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Subject: {ASSM} Hot Corinth Nights (Stereograph) (MFf slow hist)
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Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:10:03 -0400
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The following is a work of fiction.  It should not be taken
as a guide to behavior in the real world.  The people, places
and events exist only in the mind of the Author.  This is a
work of pornographic fiction, it should not be read by those
who are under the legal age to do so in the jurisdiction where
you live.  It may, or may not, contain matter illegal to read
where you live.  Please know and obey the laws of your own
country, the Author cannot be responsible for the laws of every
country connected to the internet.  Neither the Author, nor
society condone some of the actions which may be presented
within.

Please, enjoy the story. 


====================={ Hot Corinth Nights }=====================

Codes: MFf slow hist

--------------------------{ Corinth }---------------------------
                    { Prelude May 30, 1862 }

   The taking of Corinth, Mississippi, was an anti-climax.  We'd
fought a bloody cock-up to break the Souths two most important
railroads, and failed.  We'd been surprised at bloody Shiloh by
the largest army the Confederate west could assemble.  We'd
almost been destroyed in one day, only to repel them the next.
Then we failed to pursue that army leaving it intact to face at
Corinth.  We expected a hard and long fight for the town.
Beauregard retreated leaving the town to us.  It took the town
Counsel a while to convince our commanders that he was really
gone and not setting a trap.

   The town wasn't much, just a dry spot in the marshes.  It's
only real value was the rail junction.  It did have pretensions
of being more.  It's Town Hall was a classical pile.  The
buildings along the main street were fancier than common for a
town its size in the west.  It was all the more pretension as the
oldest building in town was only five years old.

   The place was a bit of a mess when we entered.  The
Confederates had fired stores and cotton before they left and it
was still burning.  The cast-offs from a large army littered the
streets.  The few remaining citizens kept to their homes.  Most
had left with the soldiers.  The few troops we'd allowed in were
looting and drunk, and it was morning yet.  Before the day was out
more whiskey would find its way out to the camps and more troops
were moved into town.

   We were going to have to defend and govern this place.  It was
the strategic and cultural center of the region.

   Of the four residents that would become important in my life,
three were not in town and one most likely was watching from her
window.  I didn't notice her, nor did she notice me.  We didn't
know to look for one another.

---------------------------{ Memphis }--------------------------
                   {The Call September 6, 1862 } 

   I entered General Sherman's office at his aide's request.

   "Captain, It's good to see you again.  Please sit down, I've a
new assignment for you."  I took the offered seat.  Sherman said,
"Al, I need you to return to Corinth for me.  As you know part of
the reason we've been holding down territory, instead of pursuing
the Rebels, is we've been trying to start integrating the
Southerners back into the Union."  He held up his hand, "I know,
it's not the real reason, but it is part of the job the President
wants done.  One of the best ways we can do that is to get the
civic government operating again.  Things have fallen apart,
badly, as you know.  The Confederacy is stripping itself of men,
including local officials.  They are supposed to be exempted, but
end up drafted anyway.  Law and order suffers.  Posses and juries
can't be formed without franchised men around.  Sometimes the
Judge or Sheriff is gone.  In Corinth all this is true."

   "Sir, I don't see what we can do about that."  I scratched my
head.  "We aren't allowed to assume those functions."

   "Too right, thank God.  I don't want those jobs.  Being an
army of occupation is a thankless job and counterproductive to
the President's aims.  I want to get on with this war, if you
want to know the truth.  We now have an opportunity, in Corinth,
to get the elected government running again.  The Judge and
Sheriff of Tishomingo County were both taken in battles.  We
offered them parole, with the stipulation that they return home
and resume their elected offices.  They took the parole.  The
Judge is already back in town.  The Sheriff will arrive in a day
or two.  We have three cases we want to pursue as a start to
rebuilding trust in civic operation.  You are being assigned one
to assist with."

   "What involvement could I have?  Controlling the outcome of
criminal or civil cases by us would only increase distrust of us.
We could end up with riots!"

   "We won't do anything like that.  The cases will be tried by
the Judge, with a local jury made up of old men, under current
State law.  Your involvement will be obvious in a moment.  The
case I'm giving you involves the rape of a local girl."

   "Sir, I'm really tired of rapes.  I don't know what makes
anyone think I'm qualified to investigate them or anything else."

   "You did well with the drummer boy.  Mind, we don't want
vigilante justice on this one.  I promise, this is the last rape
this army will assign you to investigate.  The girl was raped by
several Union soldiers, the reports vary on the number.  Your job
is to find the culprits and the evidence to convict them.  You
will convince a Court Martial to remand them to local justice. 
You will be a witness for the prosecution in the civil trial.  We
take the finding of the court, win or lose.  Either way we win
some confidence with the population.  There is more information
in the report I'm giving you to read on your own time.  This case
is important because the townspeople have adopted it as so.  They
are outraged."

   "As they should be.  I fail to see why we don't have riots
already," I said.

   "The girl is a nobody, the orphaned daughter of an unknown
father and drunken mother.  She has no home.  She makes what
living she has selling fruit at the train station and hotel.
Almost no one cared about her or paid any attention to her
existence.  She's thirteen, or fourteen, or fifteen.  No one
knows, perhaps not even her.  One of the pastors made her the
object of his sermon on charity, after she was raped, and then
the other pastors and the newspaper editor took up the cry.
Everybody cares about her, for now.  They are howling for
justice, we'll give it to them.  We have to do that before they
lose interest.  Train tickets for you and ten men, plus eleven
horses are in the packet with the report."

   "What do I need ten men for?  Surely we have enough men in
town I could draw on," I said.

   "We don't know which of the men stationed there are
trustworthy.  There is another reason I want you to have men.
There is a gang of draft dodgers and deserters playing merry Hell
in the area.  Not our business, but we want the Sheriff to put
them to rest.  We've partially arranged for a trap.  You will be
bait and extra firepower he can't find locally.  You can get the
details from him, they aren't all worked out yet."

   "Anything else you'd like me to do?"

   "If you could happen to capture Jeff Davis and his cabinet
please do.  Otherwise I've handed you more than enough.  You have
the rest of today and tomorrow to hand over command to your
Second and choose the men to go with you.  Dismissed and good
hunting."

-----------------------{ Corinth Again }-------------------------

   The train ride was late leaving.  We were the only passengers.
The rest was supplies for the troops in the towns along the line.
There were a lot of stops to unload.  It took all day to make the
two hour trip by rail.  Even at that it beat three days, or more,
on foot.  A marvel of modern progress.

   The view from the windows did not inspire lyric poetry.  The
browning hills and fields did not make a pleasant scene.  We were
in at the end of a drought summer.  The scents of a drying swamp
would inspire no one.  Creeks with little, or no, water are not
what Whitman wants to write about, although it was what he was
seeing as a nurse for the Army.  The atmosphere in the car was no
better.  Smuts, soot, and dust covered everything.  The scents of
coal and stale tobacco smoke oozed from the fixtures.  The scents
of the unwashed oozed from us.  The heat would have wilted the
Devil.  I was never so glad to see a train station as on that day.
Corinth's was as pretentious as it's town center.

   The hotel, hard by the station, was being used as headquarters
for the army.  I reported in.  I could have had a room, but not
my men.  I elected to camp with them.  We were assigned to camp
in the town square.  That suited me fine, it was close to the
City Hall.  We set up and had dinner and a wash.  The well bucket
had to descend twenty feet to find water.

   In the morning I went to see the Judge.  He told me the
Sheriff had not arrived yet.  His train was due the next day, if
no delay was encountered.  Then I asked for news on the case I
was assigned to.

   "You'll want to talk to the girl.  No one's done that
officially.  There weren't any officials around to do it.  I can't
without compromising the trials.  The Sheriff will have to do it
too.  The Provost questioned her for the Army, his is the only
report we have yet.  Nothing else has been done.  I'm going to
run this trial by the book so don't try to pawn off a weak case
on me."

   "Where might I find the girl," I asked.

   "She's been taken in by Miss Pennypacker, an instructor in
deportment for the girl's collage.  Or she was in better times.
School's closed for now.  The house is on Jackson street, fourth
one south of main."

   I was met at the door by the handsomest woman I ever seen.  As
you might expect of a deportment instructor her posture was
perfect.  Her hair was pulled back into a bun, not a stray lock
to be found.  Her dress was prim and proper.  For all that, her
dress was not sever or plain.  It fit her like a second skin
above the waist.  A trim waist it was too.  Her breasts were
perfectly proportioned to her size, neither too small or large,
and firm as mountains.  I'd no idea if that was by nature or
aided by undergarments.  Her face was a perfect oval and
unblemished.  Lace adorned the collar and cuffs, with a ribbon,
tied in a bow at the neck.  She was an artist's dream of a
proper lady.

   "How might I help you, Captain?"  The words flowed out in the
cadence of an educated Southerner.

   "Good morning, Miss Pennypacker.  I'm Capt. Albert Saunders.
I've been assigned to investigate the rape of your charge, Sally
Brown.  May I come in?"

   She raised one brow, "Another investigation?  I thought she'd
talked to the Provost Marshal already.  How many investigations
does the Union need before it makes arrests?"

   I explained the duties of Provost and the fact that I'd been
tasked to build on his preliminary report.  I went into detail.
She listened patiently.  I finished with, "Everything depends on
the cooperation of Miss Brown, and of you acting as her
guardian."

   "I'm not her guardian, not legally, only a Christian caring
for an orphaned child.  What is to happen to her?"  Miss
Pennypacker's cool reserve faded.  She looked truly concerned
about the answer to that question.

   "That is in the hands of the people of this town.  The law can
provide justice to her, beyond that it cannot go.  If the people
return her to the life she lead before, this kind of thing may
happen again.  If she receives care and guidance, she may
thrive."

   "You don't care at all, do you?"  Her look was angry as she
said this.

   "I care, but I'm in no position to take on the raising of a
child.  She belongs here and the people here are her neighbors.
It is up to them to help her," I said.

   She sat thinking for a few minutes, in silence.  "You are
correct.  Please forgive my outburst.  It is too easy to blame
others," she cracked a smile, "Yankees in particular.  The girl
has lived here for years and few cared about her."  Miss
Pennypacker lowered her eyes, "I walked past her with my nose in
the air, again, just minutes before she was attacked.  I shall
try to see that never happens again."

   "Well, at least you didn't call us by the South's favorite
name," I said with a smile.

  "A proper lady never would," she smiled again, "not to your
face."

   We share a laugh.  Then she went to find Miss Brown.

   The two were a study in contrasts.  Where Miss Pennypacker was
perfectly proportioned, Sally Brown was skinny as a beanpole.
Her dress was too wide in the waist and too short in the hem.
Her hair had seen a brush recently, but was now in rebellion.
Her face could not be called an oval, but it radiated the
sweetness of heaven.  She was a bit to old to be a child, but I
longed to take her in my arms and comfort her as if she were.

   The introductions were made.  I tried to question her gently.
I received few answers.  Suddenly rage burst from the girl.
"They hurt me!  They beat me!  They poked me inside like they was
using knives!  They hurt me inside and out, they ought to die for
that!"  She started crying.  I had to restrain myself from
gathering her into my arms then.  Instead I told her, in the
gentlest tones that, with her help, I would see them hang.  Her
red, tear streaked, face looked up.  "Will you really?  Will you
hang your own for a nothing of a girl?"  Her crying started
again.

   "Never believe you are a nothing.  You are a child of God, as
valuable as anyone.  Yes I will hang them.  I'm not alone in
this.  The Sheriff, the Judge, the jury, and the people of this
county will all gladly do that, if we can find them.  For that we
need your help.  It will not be easy on you, but it must be done
or they will go free."

   "Maybe.  I got to think about it.  Come back later."

   She refused to say anything else.  I rose to leave.  At the
door I told Miss Pennypacker that I had nowhere to start yet, so
I might as well exercise my horse and return in the evening.

   "You have a horse?  Can you bring it around so I can see it?"
came from the room behind us.  Miss Brown sounded excited.  "I've
never been on a horse before."  I agreed to bring him to their
house.

   I arrived back at their house about an hour later.  Miss Brown
was impressed with my horse.  I introduced them and let her pet
the big rascal.  Then I boosted her up and lead her down the street
and back.  It's a good thing Copperhead, my horse, is patient,
Miss Brown was too enthusiastic for a high strung horse.

   "Can we go out riding?  Could you get horses for us all?  We
could go see the Boones.  They are the most decent folks around
and they don't live far away.  Please?  Pretty please?"  Miss
Brown was bouncing at the prospect.  Miss Pennypacker claimed to
be a good rider and for trying the project if we could find a
gentle horse for Miss Brown.  I agreed to bring horses the next
day at mid-morning.

   The ladies insisted I come to supper and we parted.

-------------------{ A Way With the Ladies }---------------------

   At supper that night we talked of our upcoming ride and the
news of the day.  It was all quite proper.  Miss Brown tried to
tease Miss Pennypacker about something I didn't catch, but didn't
raise any response.  Afterward, we sat in the parlor and shared
histories.  Miss Pennypacker was from Chattanooga.  She'd been to
a finishing school and university.  Miss Sally Brown had been born
in Kentucky, she knew not just where, and had moved steadily
southward throughout her life.  She'd never seen the interior of
a schoolhouse.  She'd been in Corinth for three years, the
longest she'd ever lived in one place.

   After a while Miss Brown was sent to prepare for bed.  Once
she was clear of the parlor, Miss Pennypacker smiled and
said, "Take care Captain.  You are in danger of becoming the
object of a serious crush."

   "Me?  You must be kidding," I replied.

   "Girls do have crushes.  They tend to focus on exciting men
who show a girl a bit of attention.  Miss Brown has lived without
proper male attention all her life.  You are the best thing she's
ever seen.  If she doesn't have a crush on you, I'll be
surprised."  Her grin was not at all prim and proper.

   "I understand crushes.  I've two sisters, one older and one
still having crushes.  I just don't think anyone could have one
on me."

   Miss Brown returned in a nightdress too large for her,
carrying a hairbrush.  She started toward Miss Pennypacker, then
turned to me.  "Would you brush my hair, please?"  Miss
Pennypacker smothered a laugh.

   I hooked a footstool with my foot and invited her to sit.  She
had fine hair that fell almost to her waist.  "With a bit of
effort you could do fetching things with this."

   "I'm just an ugly, gawky, girl.  How could I have pretty
hair?" she said.

   "You are not ugly!  Hair like this can be shaped in many ways.
I watched my sisters spend hours trying different styles out.
Miss Pennypacker could help you, I'm sure."

   "Do you mean that?  I could be pretty?  I don't believe you."

   I told her I meant it.  I described a dozen ways her hair
could be arranged to frame her face.  She looked thoughtful.  I
finished brushing and Miss Pennypacker told her it was time for
bed.

   "Would you tuck me in?"  I think my jaw may have hit the
floor.  "I don't think anyone ever tucked me into bed.  Would
you, please?"

   "Really Captain, you should.  I'll go along to keep things
proper," said Miss Pennypacker.

   We went into one of the bedrooms.  Miss Brown climbed into her
bed.  I straightened the blanket around her shoulders, and on a
whim, I sang her 'Dream Angus' a lullaby learned from my
maternal grandmother.

     Can you no hush your weeping;
     All the wee lambs are sleeping,
     birdies are nestling, nestling together.
     Dream Angus is drifting o'er the heather.
     Dreams to sell, fine dreams to sell;
     Angus is coming with dreams to sell.
     Hush now my bairnie, sleep without fear;
     Dream Angus will bring you a dream, my dear.

     List to curlew crying;
     Faint are the echoes dieing.
     Even the birds and beasties are sleeping,
     my bonnie bairnie's weeping, weeping.
     Dreams to sell, fine dreams to sell;
     Angus is coming with dreams to sell.
     Hush now my bairnie, sleep without fear;
     Dream Angus will bring you a dream, my dear.

   I stroked her hair as I sang, then finished with a kiss to her
forehead, as my grandmother always had.

   Back in the parlor, Miss Pennypacker declared, "That was
wonderful!"  Her grin returned, "If that girl isn't soaking her
nightdress now she's gone off men for life."  Her grin faded to
thoughtfulness.  She bent forward and kissed my cheek.  "I think
it's time you left."

   "Miss Pennypacker!  The mouth on you.  I thought you a proper
lady."

   "Propriety is a tool, to be used as needed and put away when
not.  Under this circumstance there is no need for it.  It would
be prissy, not proper.  Knowing and teaching the difference is
part of my job."  Her grin was a mile wide.

   In the morning I learned the Sheriff would arrive by noon.  I
organized my men into teams.  One would ask the staffs of the
hotel and train station about Miss Brown and the day she was
attacked.  Another would scout the positions of the units
stationed in town.  The third would visit the farms outside town
to buy supplies and learn about the band of raiders.  Then I
brushed and saddled Copperhead and the two best horses from the
army mounts.

   The ladies were waiting for me.  Miss Pennypacker wore riding
kit.  Miss Brown had none, of course, but her dress fitted her
better now.  Something had been done to it.  Her hair was done
into coils over her ears.  The change was remarkable, and remark
I did.  The girl blushed and smiled throughout.

   The ride out to the orchard was pleasant.  I mounted Miss
Brown on Copperhead, who I could control with spoken commands,
and she kept her seat well.  The Boones proved a nice couple.
The were affectionate to Miss Brown, and she to them.  They
served us a hearty lunch.  I returned the ladies home and they
invited me to supper.

   My first meeting with the Sheriff convinced me that he was a
fine lawman and a wise man, neither a given anywhere.  We agreed
to question Miss Brown together the next day.  He was not ready
to give details of the trap for the outlaws.  He hadn't had time
to work on them yet.

   Supper was piles of fried chicken and potatoes with green beans.
Miss Brown eat like no food would ever be served again.  An apple
pie topped off the meal.  We repaired to the parlor and sang to
the playing of Miss Pennypacker.  Her contralto and my baritone
blended beautifully.  Miss Brown's shaky soprano firmed up as we
went along and the harmonies filled the room.  Then it was the
young lady's bedtime.  I brushed out her hair and tucked her in
as before.

   "Captain--Al--, you have a way with ladies.  I believe you've
done that girl more good than anyone in her life."  Miss
Pennypacker kissed my cheek.  She looked troubled for a moment,
then kissed my lips.  "I almost believe I'd like to be tucked in
myself."

   "Almost?"  I kissed her and her arms folded around me tightly.

   "I can't believe I'm saying this.  Tuck me in?  Please?"

   We said little else.  She lead me to the other bedroom.  As we
clasped again she removed my tie.  As I undid the ribbon at her
collar she grasped my wrists, then released them.  We worked at
one another's buttons while kissing.  She grasped my wrists again
as I started to peel off the top of her dress.

   "Don't think I do this with every man I meet.  Be gentle,
please."  She let me remove her dress.

   My frock coat was already off and my shirt followed.  We
kissed again and she undid the buttons on my pants, as I searched
for the ties on her petticoats.  We were down to drawers and
pantaloons.  I leaned back to look.  The full breasts and flat
belly may have had help from her clothing, but they did not need
it.  They were still perfect.  I kissed them.  I found the rear
button on her pantaloons and they puddled at her knees.  I
caressed then squeezed the firm hams, then moved a hand to her
sex.  She grasped the wrist again.

   "I'm not quite a virgin anymore.  Will you be very
disappointed?"  Her face wore worry like a glove.

   "I shall not think less of you, I have no right to."  She
looked relieved.  Her hand released my wrist and moved to press
my hand to her sex.  Her other hand undid my drawers.

   "Enter me!  I can stand it no longer."  She broke from my
grasp and rolled to the bed.  I knelt between her thighs, drawers
slipping down, and she took my sex in hand, guiding it to her
entrance.  She was tight, but wet, and I sank in slowly and
smoothly.  I rocked and she rock against me.  Together we built
the passion higher and higher.  Her hand pressed the top of her
sex against mine.  Faster and harder we rocked.

   She exploded.  Her breath rushed out in a hard sigh.  Her
muscles strained.  Her back arched.  Her sex squeezed mine in
waves.  I rocked still, pushing her to greater passion.  And then
she stilled, going completely limp.  Her breathing restarted and
she smiled.  I rocked, now trying to finish myself.  Some
undefinable time later it was my turn to explode.

   "I told you you have a way with the ladies Al," I heard whispered
into my ear.

   "What lady do I have the pleasure of having a way with?  I
can't keep calling you Miss Pennypacker in these circumstances."

   "I'm afraid you'll laugh.  Let's leave things as they are."

   "I won't laugh.  You must have a beautiful name, tell me."

   "My parents had a taste for alliteration.  They gave me a name
to match that taste.  Penelope, my name is Penelope Pennypacker."

   "It is a beautiful name.  Your parents must have known you'd
marry and change the last name someday.  I don't suppose you go
by Penny?"

   "I blackened the eye of the last person, other than my
parents, who called me that.  I even tried to pull her pigtails
out."

   "I'll remember that, Penelope."

   I could not stay.  Having a man spend the night would ruin
Miss Pennypacker's reputation, and given the tension of our
mission, my men would tear the town up if I didn't return to 
camp.

----------------------{ Deadly Business }------------------------

   In the morning I heard reports from my teams.  Their work took
on more importance now that I'd come to like the victim so well.
 
   The group, including the Sergeant, who'd searched for the
raiders had learned little more than that the farmers feared
them.  The raiders seemed to keep to the wildest places, not in
short supply in this under settled county, and move their camp
around.

   The group scouting troop locations had a complete list.

   The group that had interviewed the people working around the
train station had the most to say.  The staff members of the
station and hotel had little to do with the street vendors.  Most
had passed Miss Brown daily without so much as a hello.  In part,
they had resented her mother's occasional whoring.  They had
shooed her away when they thought she interfered with business.
The other street vendors were more helpful.  They knew her, many
pitied her.  She was too quiet in hawking her wares.  They
thought she had not stayed under a roof since her mother had
died, of a drunken fall, the winter before.  They had not noted
the appearance of any soldiers approaching her as most of their
business was soldiers these days.

   I met with the Sheriff, John Davis, as arranged, and we went
to question the girl together.  We'd agreed to be gentle, but to
push for answers.  We insisted that Miss Pennypacker leave the
room.

   "Did the soldiers come at you as a group and drag you off to
the alley?" asked the Sheriff.

   "No."

   "We need more than just no.  You want them caught, don't you?"

   "I don't want to talk about it.  I don't want to remember!"

   "Sally, we need to hear your story to find them.  We never
will find them without your help," I said.

   "It's too horrible!" she insisted.  We both sat looking at her
without saying a word.  She swallowed and looked ready to cry.
"Two of them came to me and offered half a dollar to go in the
alley with them.  I ain't a whore!  I don't never want to be a
whore!"  She did cry then.  Through her sobs she continued, "I
told them no and they went away."  She gulped a breath and
composed herself.  "They come back a little later, with another
soldier too.  Said I'd get the half dollar and they'd each give
me a tip, if I was good.  Told them no."  She broke down again.
"Mama whored sometimes.  Don't never want to be a whore!  Had to
watch her, sometimes, if there weren't nowhere to go.  It was
ugly.  Mama stole sometimes too.  Don't never want to steal.
Mama drank."  Sally seemed to think that summed up all that was
wrong.  

   I longed to hug and comfort her, but I though she might not
say anything else if I did.  The Sheriff and I prompted her many
times, I shall omit those and let her story flow.  She broke down
many more times, I shall omit those too.

   "They came back again, just the first two.  They grabbed my
basket and ran into the alley.  I hollered at them, but they
didn't bring it back.  I went after the basket, it's all I have
to keep me alive.  It was sitting on the ground.  They jumped me
when I tried to pick it up.  They tore my dress and one was in me
when the third soldier come along.  They held me down and hit me
when I tried to get free.  Two more come along and joined them.
I don't think the last two knew the others, didn't seem like it,
but they let them at me too.  They all stuck themselves in me,
taking turns. It hurt!  It hurt so bad.  I knows that's how
babies get made and folks likes doing that, but it hurt.  They
must have done it wrong outa meanness.  They all had their turn
and laughed at me while the others took a turn.  Then the third
one, he said I weren't no good and he was givin me the only tip
I'd get.  He peed on my face.  How could anyone be that mean?
How could they?"

   I asked her if she'd seen anything that would identify the
soldiers.

   "The first two, one of them had a beard along his jaw, but no
mustache and the other was shaved and had curly red hair.  They
was young, nearly boys.  The third, he was older, like your age,"
I was twenty-three, "he had a goat beard and a narrow face.  I
didn't really notice the other two, was hurtin too much by then.
The first three had cannons on their hats and some kinda letters
or numbers, cain't read those.  The last two had somethin else,
not cannons.  You got to hang those rotten boys 'for they do that
again!"

   She broke down completely then and we had no more from her.  I
did take her in my arms.  The Sheriff fetched Penelope.

   When we left, after Miss Brown calmed down and was put to bed,
someone took a shot at us.  It missed, though it clipped the
Sheriff's coattail.  It had come from a garden across the street.
By the time we charged the garden, revolvers in hand, the culprit
was gone.  The Sheriff took charge.  He deputized a couple of old
men, who lived in the area, and told them to arm themselves and
watch the house.  They were veterans of Mexico and trusted
citizens.  I offered my men to help.

   "This is a local matter and I'll handle it with local men.
Your commanders want civil law operating and, by God, so do I.
Besides, we're looking for Union soldiers as suspects and having
to tell the difference between your's and not your's would cause
a problem for my Deputies."

   It was a problem I wish I'd paid more attention to.

   I stopped at camp to summon Sgt. Baker and we went to the HQ.
There I briefed the Sergeant, the Provost and his deputy on what
I'd learned from Miss Brown.  "We are looking for three artillery
men.  That narrows the field, but not enough.  The other two we
don't have enough information on.  One, or all, of them are
spooked enough to take potshots at me or the Sheriff.  We should
keep the pressure on and see if we can catch them at it."  We
agreed to do that.

--------------------------{ Caught }-----------------------------

   That evening I went to see the ladies.  Miss Brown was still
subdued.  She relaxed, a bit, as the evening went on and at
bedtime brought her brush to me.  As I brushed her hair, she
asked what would become of her, a "ruined girl".

   "You aren't ruined," I said.  "Any man with the sense God gave
him will know it was not your fault.  Any man who rejects you for
what was done isn't worth having."

   "I hate to contradict you Captain, but marriage will be a
buyer's market for men for the next decade," said Penelope.
"This war is killing off men by the hundreds and thousands.  The
number of men available for marrying will be very low until the
boys too young to fight grow up.  A girl will need every
advantage to win a husband."

   "Does that mean I'll never have one?" asked Miss Brown.

  "No, but it does mean you'll have to fight for the chance, more
than you would have without a war.  You're young enough to wait
for the growing boys.  I fear I waited too long."

   We discussed the subject for some minutes.  Penelope made a
good case.  I hadn't thought the subject through before.  She did
convince Sally to learn all she could of social graces and
grooming.

   When I finished her hair, Sally leaned back into me.  Her arms
used my thighs as rests.  Her neck was against my crotch.  As we
talked her head shifted to look at the current speaker.  I became
very aware of the stimulation she was causing.  She seemed
unaware of, or unconcerned about, my engorged sex against her.
She seemed quite comfortable and I was loath to upset her by
asking she move.  Further, her nightdress was worn thin and stood
out before her.  I could see down it to her chest, and through it
below that.  I became very fearful of an accident.  I was saved
the embarrassment by Penelope shooing her to bed just before the
critical moment.

   We repeated the ritual of tucking Sally in for the night.
Afterwards Penelope took me to the parlor.

   "I think she did that on purpose.  I could see you getting
uncomfortable, but it was too delicious to watch for me to
interrupt."  She had a mischievous glint to her eyes.

   "I don't think she realized the effect she had, she was just
seeking comfort," I said.

   "She knew what she was doing.  She just doesn't know how far
she can go with it, yet.  One thing about crushes, girls seek men
they feel are safe to have them on.  If she feared you, she'd
never have tried that.  She was just testing her effect on you."

   "It was almost total!  That would have been a disaster."

   Penelope chuckled and stroked my chin.  "My poor Captain.
We'll have to do something about that."  She lead me to her room.

   We were in the act of joining when we heard, "Oh!  What are
you doing?"  We looked over and saw Sally at the door.  She
turned and fled.

   "I'll have to go to her," said Penelope.  She pulled her
nightdress on and left.

   Some minutes later both came into the room.  I'd started
dressing, though I was far from decent.

   "Sit down, both of you, we need to talk about this," said
Penelope.   We arranged ourselves on the edge of the bed.

   "I thought you liked me.  I should have known I'm too ugly and
it was Miss Pennypacker you was interested in."  Sally had been
crying.

   "Sally, I do like you, I like you a lot.  Penelope is a grown
woman and we've fallen in love.  You are still a girl and one who
has been badly hurt.  I hadn't thought you would want me like
that," I said.

   "But I loved you!  I thought you might help me learn love."

   "Every girl that feels as you do finds out the man they adore
is less than perfect," said Penelope.  "Most start knowing the
man they are attracted to is married or unavailable.  This
changes nothing.  I am sorry you had to see us in bed."

   "It's not fair!  You steal him and I just get called a rotten
little girl.  Why did you have to do that?  It's not right."

   "Sally, I love you.  I want what is best for you.  I'm sorry
you are hurt, but you expect what is unreasonable," I said.

   "Perhaps we need to find out what you do expect."  Penelope
looked thoughtful.  "If we know what you want, we might work
something out.  We might--share--that's the right word.  We might
share him.  I think he has enough love for both of us."

   I started to protest, but Sally cut me off.  "Share him?  I
guess that might work, if he doesn't think I too ugly and
scrawny.  I don't want pity.  I want to learn what love is like.
I want to learn it all, but slow, one step at a time.  Could we
try that?"

   I started to protest that Sally was not ugly, but Penelope cut
me off.  "I think we can work it out.  I know he doesn't think
you ugly.  He doesn't pity you.  He just doesn't want to hurt
you.  What we'll do, for now, is let you two work things out
between you.  When you've finished I'll take my turn.  I'll leave
if you like."

   "No," said Sally, "you ought to stay.  I'll stay during your
turn too, if that's alright.  That way I can see what the things
I'm not ready for are like."

   I finally got in a word.  "Wait!  You two are deciding all
this without me.  Are you both serious?  This is a pretty strange
agreement your making."

   "Yes," came from both together.

   "Men aren't too good at keeping to one woman, no matter what
they promise.  This is just more honest," said Penelope.

   "I want you," said Sally.  "It's alright with me if I share
you with Miss Pennypacker.  She can teach me what to do."

   "You're outvoted Al.  Just go along like a good boy."
Penelope wore a look of mirth.  "Go ahead, Sally.  Try him out.
Al's pretty good at this, he'll lead you along."

   "Do you really like me, you're not just saying that to make me
feel good?" asked Sally.  I assured her I liked her and thought
her pretty.  I praised her best points, her fine and full hair,
Her angelic face.  Her deep green eyes.  I enfolded her in my
arms as I talked.  "Do I look good enough to kiss?  Really kiss?"

   I leaned in and kissed her lips.  There was no response, but
when I sat up she looked astonished.  Then she grinned, "Try it
again."  I kissed her and she tried to kiss back.  I stayed in
place and tried again.  Her kiss improved.  She looked delighted,
so I kissed her face from chin to ear and back to her lips.  She
squealed in delight.

   "That's fun," she said.  A worried look came over her.  We
don't have to take off my clothes to continue, do we?  You'll
both laugh at my skinny body and no tits."

   "I won't laugh," I said.  "I saw your tits earlier, they are
cute.  More than a mouthful is a waste anyway."

   That last comment sparked questions about what mouths and
breasts have to do with one another.  I explained in some detail.
Sally blushed throughout.  Finally, I told her we didn't have to
do anything she didn't want to.

   "I'll keep my dress on for now.  Do my tits look good enough
to touch?  Is that something men like to do?"

   I told her men love to touch tits.  Penelope added that having
her tits touched felt great, if the man is one she wants touching
her.  Sally asked, again, if I really wanted to touch them and
then gave permission to try it "just this once".  I started below
her breasts, giving her a tickle on the way up.  Then I brushed
my hand against them.  "That does feel good, do it again."  I
brushed my hand up and down, kissing her as I did.  She giggled.

   She looked me in the eye and asked, "May I touch you?"

   "Yes, of course.  Touching and exploring your lover is all
part of love, especially at the beginning.  Feel free to touch
where you like."

   She reached out to touch my chest.  When she saw I didn't
recoil, she explored.  She ran her fingers through the hair and
touched my nipples.  Through her dress, I returned her touches.
She straddled my legs and sat on my lap to get a better angle.
I kissed her as we continued to feel one another's chests.  Her
kisses deepened.  In the breaks between her breathing became
faster.  I moved one hand to her back and stroked it, my hand
moving slowly lower with each stroke.  When I got to the small of
her back I asked for permission to stroke her behind.  She bit
her lip and thought, then nodded.  She tensed the first time and
yelped when I squeezed, but grinned a second later.  My little
soldier was caught between our bellies at full attention.

   We kissed and caressed a few minutes more.  "I getting scared,
we got to stop now," Sally breathed out.  She slid off my lap.
"I think it's your turn now Ma'am."

   Penelope took a moment to stroke Sally's head and ask if she
was alright.  On getting a nod, she took the vacant place on my
lap.  Her kisses where eager.  "Shall we show Sally what tits are
for?" she said raising her arms.  I shucked her out of the
nightdress, then leaned in to begin a moist journey up one
delicious peak.  Kiss by kiss I climbed to the nipple, sucking it
in and enclosing it tight in my lips.  Soft words encouraged my
efforts.  Over the top, then across the collarbone to the other
peak I marched.  Penelope caressed me with words and fingers as I
worked.  "Enough!  Let's get those pants off you, boy."  She
wormed her hand between us and undid the buttons.  One more kiss,
then she slid off my lap.  She surprised me by inviting Sally to
help pull the pants off, and Sally surprised me by accepting.

   "There it is girl, that special bit of a man.  They tend to
think it's the best part, it's good, but not that good.  Want to
touch it?"  Sally laid her hand on, light as a feather in the
breeze.  She withdrew it quickly.  "Nothing to be afraid of, not
if you have a good man."  Penelope stroked me.  "It's very
touchable.  We've given it quite a workout, you and I, without
allowing it the final treat.  I'm afraid it won't take much
more."  She climbed back on my lap and leaned in for a kiss.
She reached down between us, pushed me into position and slid
me into her dripping haven.  On top, she controlled our pace.
I didn't last long, but the end was so strong it was almost
painful.  Penelope kept going as my seed pumped out, and beyond
that as well.  Her hard, fast pace kept me from going soft long
enough to bring her own straining release.  Spent, we came 
together like a pair of wet rags, trading soft kisses.  A time
later, long or short I know not, she scooted to the side and
invited Sally to join us.  She shook her head, but climbed onto
the bed and sat down.

   "Did that--hurt?" asked Sally.

   "No, no indeed.  Lovemaking is too intense to be comfortable,
but it doesn't hurt," said Penelope.

   "Do I have to do that?  Is that what I'll be expected to do
next time we're together?"

   "No, don't rush things, child.  I did that, once, it was
disappointing.  Al is a patient man, he won't rush you.  Learn
what you feel ready to try and leave the rest for the future.  It
will be all the better when it happens.  When you are ready, rest
assured we can get a rise out of this man."  She gave my flagging
soldier a stroke that caused him to jump and look lively.  Both
ladies giggled at that.  "He's good for another round.  If we
don't get greedy there is enough for both of us."

   "Don't I get a say in this?" I asked.  The ladies said no in
unison.

   "Best not to get him started again, Al has to leave.  He's
already been here long enough to start tongues wagging."  The
girls made a game out of dressing me.  They had quite a time with
it.  I received a kiss on each cheek at the door.

   I was challenged by a deputy at the front gate.  It wasn't
easy to convince him I belonged there.  Penelope had to come out
and vouch for me.  I'd walked three doors away when a shot rang
out.  My assasssin's aim had not improved, but it hadn't gotten
worse.  My hat was torn at the brim.  The muzzle flash had given
his firing position away, but by the time the deputy and I
stormed it he was gone.

--------------------------{ Retreat }----------------------------

   "I need you out of this town, now."  Sheriff Davis did not
look a man to say no to.  "The women too.  I can work on this
without you here personally.  If you must, leave some of your men
under the Sergeant to work on the military angle.  Take the rest
to guard you.  A dead Military Investigator is no help to anyone.
Iuka is nice this time of year if the springs haven't failed.
It's a resort town and your army holds it as a strong point.
Get out of my town!"

   Leaving took a couple of days to accomplish.  Sgt. Baker would
keep four men and our tents.  I would take the other five.  We
could keep in touch by telegraph or messengers.  We left by rail
taking horses along.  It galled me but it made sense too.

   At Iuka we rented a double cabin near the famed springs.  The
ladies had half.  I and my soldiers had the other.  The springs
had mostly failed in this drought, but we weren't there for the
waters anyway.  One of my men was an illustrator by trade.  I had
him work with Miss Brown to make sketches of her attackers.  They
spent hours at it.  We learned that the last two men involved
were cavalry privates.  The third artillery soldier was a
Corporal.  Bringing out the unit badges failed, Miss Brown could
not read and couldn't describe them.  I kept in touch with the
Sergeant, Sheriff, and Provost.  We wired them descriptions and a
messenger took them copies of the sketches.

   Not every hour was devoted to work.  The town and countryside
were lovely.  We rode about them each day.  Miss Brown's
horsemanship improved rapidly.  The men treated her as a mascot.
They lavished treats and attention on her.  We had a new dress 
made for her.  We had photographs taken.  I spent the evenings
with the ladies.

   It was the third evening before we felt secure to resume our
former relations.  We'd spent time in a sing-along with the men.
The three of us retired to the ladies cabin and went through the
bedtime ritual.  Sally asked for a kiss and made it a deep one.
I took a dare and caressed her back while extending the kiss.
She smiled at me.

   "Would it be alright to take off your shirt?" she asked.
Doing that required removing the coat, vest, and tie first.
She played her hands over my chest.  "You can touch mine too,"
she said.  She smiled as I did.  Then she bit her lip and looked
worried for a moment.  In a tentative voice asked, "Would it be
alright to kiss my tits?"

   "We'll have to lift or remove your nightdress.  Is that
alright with you?"  She looked thoughtful and clenched the hem of
her dress for some time.  Then she nodded and slowly lifted the
hem.

   The first sight of her perky little breasts, set among the
ridges of her ribs, made me wish I could banish all the hurt
she'd felt in life.  I leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on one
nipple.  She gasped.  I treated her to the treatment she'd seen
me give Penelope.  I feared it would prove too much for her, but
she smiled and looked down to watch me.  She giggled and
squirmed.  I caressed her centerline from chest to belly button.
More giggling spilled out.

   "I think you may--" she stopped there for a time and started
over.  "I think it would be alright to, ah, maybe, touch.
Lower."  She blushed from the roots of her hair to her toes.

   The next downward pass of my hand glided over her lower belly
almost to her sex.  Sally tensed, then relaxed and nodded.  On
the next I kissed a nipple as my hand reached the swelling and
sparse hairs of her sex.  She drew a sharp breath, blushed, and
smiled.  I made several more passes.

   "Stop.  I want to try something different," she said.  She
giggled as she thrust her hand between us and started undoing my
buttons.  Then she climbed off and struggled to pull my pants
down.  My brave little soldier was at attention, as he'd been
since the first kiss.  She reached down and stroked it.  She
blushed again, but she kept on, feeling down among my balls and
back up the shaft.  She wrapped her hand around and squeezed.
"This is fun," she said with another, deeper, blush.  She'd
enjoyed a few more pets and squeezes when she really surprised
me.  She bent down and planted a kiss at the junction of sack and
shaft.  She giggled, an odd sensation, and stuck out her tongues
to lick me up the shaft to the head.  She picked up a string of
my leakage, made a face, and looked to Penelope.

   "That's clean and won't hurt you," her mentor said.

   Sally slurped it in.  She climbed back onto my lap.  We
resumed caressing not neglecting each other's sexes. Penelope
kept her eyes on what we did, watching with fascination.  That
went on for some time.  Then Sally drew back saying, "Enough!"
She scuttled to the head of the bed and donned her nightdress.
"I think it's your turn now ma'am."

   Penelope climbed aboard my lap with a smile.  We progressed
rapidly through kissing and touching to the point where she
mounted me.  Watching Sally and I, and perhaps touching herself
as she did, had made her hungry for the main course.  I saw from
the corner of my eye Sally was watching us closely.  It took me a
few moments longer to realize Sally was rubbing herself.
Penelope must have noticed too.

   "Al can spare you a hand, girl.  Squat down on it and enjoy."

   Sally slowly crawled to my hand and hesitated before lowering
her crotch to it.  She rubbed herself against it a few times
lightly.  Then she gained confidence and ground down.  With
Penelope riding my cock and Sally my hand, sighs and grunts and
short words issuing from three throats, we built toward a longed
for release.  I thrust into Penelope.  I shaped and reshaped my
hand under Sally.  The bed seemed destined to collapse before we
did.  Penelope came first.  She bucked and moaned though her
pleasure, rested half a moment and resumed riding.  I was next,
shooting all the pent up stimulations of the night in long spurts
that seemed to empty me.  When I came to my senses I realized I'd
neglected Sally.  She was perched over my limp hand doing
nothing.  I reached up to stroke her.  She ground against my hand
wildly.  Suddenly she collapsed, groaning and whimpering.

   We lay for some time, a damp, boneless, pile of tangled flesh
and clothing.  Slow we were to revive.  Penelope finally roused
us to action.

   "We need to get Al ready to leave.  He needs a wash and his
clothes restored, at the very least."

   The girls made a game of washing me up and dressing me again.
Their attentions had me wishing we could go another round, but
time was against us.  We did not want my men thinking about what
we were doing in there.  It did no good.  I overheard two of my
men bringing in the breakfast firewood make remarks all too close
to the truth.  It was just talk and would have happened even if
we were innocent.  It hit me all the harder being true.

--------------------------{ Progress }---------------------------

   The returning messenger brought news that one of the cavalry
troopers had turned himself in.  He'd been spooked by the sight
of my men showing the sketches around.  He made a tearful
confession and named his accomplice.  The accomplice had been
taken in the act of fleeing town, adding desertion to his
charges.  The toughest suspects to identify, and least likely
to be caught, were in hand.

   He also brought word of Confederate General Price being on the
march, destination, and current whereabouts, unknown.

   I drafted a letter to Sheriff Davis suggesting our return.  It
was likely that the captured suspects would supply information on
the unit to which the artillery soldiers belonged and I wanted
Miss Brown on hand to make positive identification when suspects
were brought in.  I posted it through the regular train.

   All day the ladies made comments, in low voices, between them.
They engaged in much tittering and giggling.  I wondered what
they were up to.  I was not alone, my men wondered the same.

   Miss Brown's properly fitting dress and newfound interest in
grooming had converted her from a ragamuffin to a sightly young
lady.  When not chattering with Miss Pennypacker, she was
busy trading mock flirtations with my men.  Her self-confidence
had risen to a high degree.  It was heartening to see.

   We all took a long afternoon ride.  Miss Brown's horsemanship
had improved to the point we felt confident to put the horses
through their paces.  We didn't try jumping and no one would hand
her a prize for style at the county fair, but kept her seat.  She
did as well as some of the boys, we were not a cavalry troop and
it showed.  Everyone was in high spirits.

   We were trotting back to the cabin, teasing and laughing, when
Miss Pennypacker announced, "Miss Brown and I are off to bathe.
The springs are sluggish, but I have a distant relative who says
one on her property still has a flow.  The Captain can keep an
eye on us.  You boys ought to get in a wash at least."

   Pvt. Reinard piped up with, "We could all go with you.  We
could skinny dip, that's what we do at home."  Reinard was the
youngest of us, you could feel the older men preparing to wollup
him.

   "Really Private, if you think Miss Brown and I would parade
before a group of men, I am insulted.  The Captain is a 
gentleman, I see some his men are not!" said Miss Pennypacker.

   "Looks like we took the boy away from his Ma too soon," said
Pvt. Curry, "she didn't get to finish learnin him manners.  Please
forgive him, Ma'am."

   "I may.  You boys may use another pool farther down the ridge
from the wellspring."

   We diverted down a country lane.  We left the horses tied to
the fence and climbed.  We left the men at a rock ledge with a
depression carved out of it.  The water was mid-calf deep, though
the waterline was much higher.  Miss Brown handed out a couple of
bars of soap.  The next pool we came to was smaller, but deeper.
The spring issued from the rock face just above.  The pool would
have been too deep to use in a normal year, now it was up to our
hips.

   "I wish we could wash the clothes too," said Penelope.  "Help
me out of this dress, Al."

   I help peel her out of the dress.  When I tried to sneak a
kiss on her breast she chided me playfully.  Then I shucked Sally
out of hers.  The ladies left me to undress myself and tested the
water.

   "It's hot!" said Sally.

   "That's how we want it," said Penelope.  "It will take a
moment to get used to."

   I finished undressing and walked over to goose a pair of
butts.  The ladies squealed and jumped in.  They retaliated by
splashing me.

   "Behave yourself!  If you don't, we'll call Reinard to keep
watch.  If you do, you may like the result," Penelope chided.

   The pool was no more than three paces across.  Penelope
squatted down until the water was at her chin.  Sally and I
followed her example.  The hot, sulfureous, water soon had my
muscles relaxed.  It was very soothing.  It was very tranquil.
It was very boring.  I was not alone in thinking that.  Sally
sidled up to me and poked my ribs.  I retaliated by tickling her
armpits, setting her to squirm until she lost footing and went
underwater.  She came up sputtering and applied all her weight
on my head in an effort to push me under.  She didn't weigh
enough for the job.

   "You two quit splashing this moment!  Really!  If you can't
just relax, at least don't disturb me."  Penelope sounded as if
she meant it.

   Sally leaned in close and began toying with my damp hair.  Her
dripping hands soon had it wet enough to shape as she pleased.
Then she leaned in, chest to chest, and mugged at me.  I mugged
back.  She started giggling.  She scooped up water and poured it
down my chest.  Then she reached down and stroked my little
soldier to attention.  More giggling followed as she kept at that
task.

   "Be careful that doesn't go off.  We've a use for it later.
Al, please stop her before anything, uh, draining happens,"  said
our disciplinarian.

   "Spoilsport," replied Sally.  She turned around and straddled
my lap.  "At least you're not stodgy." she said to me as she
leaned back.

   I wrapped my arms around her to steady her.  She pulled one
hand toward her chest and the other southward.  I began caressing
the spots where she had put them.  She said that felt nice, so I
widened the movements of my hands.  Soon I was cupping her
breasts and running a finger lightly over her thighs and lower
belly.  She cocked her head back and smiled at me.

   "That you can do, it is reusable without delay."  Penelope
went back to ignoring us.

   I kept up my strokes until Sally guided the lower hand to her
sex.  Thereafter I concentrated on running it from naval to butt
and back; slowly.  It definitely had the desired effect.  Sally
was soon issuing little short noises from her throat.  She was
squirming and calling for more.  I kept the pace, upper and
lower, as slow as possible building her higher and higher.  She
was whimpering an hollering for more before I relented.  Then I
circled the top of her slit while lightly squeezing a nipple.
That sent her over the top.  She bucked like a bee-stung horse
and cried for quite some time before going slack.  My little
soldier, trapped between her butt cheeks, nearly went off.  I
held her in a simple embrace while she recovered.

   "That looked fun, remind me to try it next time we bathe,"
said Penelope.  "For now, let's wash up.  It's time to go back to
the cabin."

-----------------------{Rumors of War }--------------------------

   We washed the sulfur off back at the cabin.  Pvt. Curry, who
was the eldest of the men present, came to inform me that the
boys were going out on the town tonight.  When pressed he
admitted they were going to a girlie show.  They would be late
and some of them might be drunk.  They would try not to wake me.

   At supper with the ladies I mentioned the men's destination.
Miss Brown tried, and failed, to smother a giggle.  Miss
Pennypacker said, "I'm glad they took the bait.  Our plans would
be ruined if they hadn't."

   "Bait?  You had something to do with their plans for tonight?"

   "Not me, Miss Brown did.  Cross my heart."

   I stared Miss Brown in the eye.  She fell to another fit of
giggling.  When she recovered she said, "I pretended to be
indignant at hearing about a show in town.  I complained to the
boys at the idea of girls dancing naked in front of men."

   "What am I going to do with you two?"

   "If you want suggestions," Penelope paused theatrically, "you
could start by giving me the treatment you gave Sally this
afternoon.  I'm sure we can find other things after that.  Idle
hands are the devil's playthings, we mustn't let yours be idle."

   Penelope disrobed, with a little help from me, and straddled
my lap.  Sally had changed to her nightdress and sat on a chair
watching.  Unlike Sally, Penelope was not content to just let me
do what I thought would work, she gave me tips to improve my
performance.  Since her goal was the same as mine we kept her
aroused without release until it became unbearable for her.  I
looked over at Sally a couple times and saw her touching herself.
Penelope came every bit as dramatically as Sally had.  Once she
calmed down she asked me to go finish the poor child.  Sally had
rubbed herself to the point it took no more than a kiss to the
top of her inner slit to send her over.

   "Poor Al, all this work for us and he gets nothing out of it."
Penelope said.  She looked over at a slowly recovering Sally.
"We should do something nice for him."

   The ladies undressed me, slowly, kissing the flesh they
uncovered.  They lead me to the bed.  We became a knot of tangled
flesh as they both embraced me and kissed me.  Their kisses
ranged wider and wider.  The ladies settled down then, Penelope
between my legs and Sally on my chest.

   "Lie still and let us have our fun.  I think you'll like it,"
Penelope said.

   Four hands took hold of my cock and balls.  They stroked and
patted it lightly.  They commented on how nice it was to see it
up close.  Hands traded places a few times.  Then the girls got
to work on it.  One hand would stroke it, another stroked and
tugged the sack.  Kisses dotted the flesh of my thighs and belly.
An occasional kiss or lick graced the cock or sack.  A tongue
grazed the flesh behind my balls.  Comments and giggles were
traded.  Hands traded places.  I could take no more and warned
them.  A hand from each gripped me.  Another jiggled my balls.
I gushed, and all the pent-up near misses of the day had filled
me beyond normal.  More comments and giggles were traded.  Then
I had no more left in me and subsided.

   "Do you suppose this stuff is any good?" asked Sally.

   "I don't know, this is the first time I've ever had any that
wasn't in me," came the reply.  "Al is the first man I've had,
other than that one time with a boy from school."

   "I've seen my Mama suck it out of a man, but she'd do anything
for drinking money.  The stuff I got on my tongue the other day
wasn't too bad."

   "We could just try a taste, there's plenty here.  It does
smell nice."

   Two tongues licked.  The girls pronounced it better for making
babies than eating and cleaned up with Sally's nightdress.

   "Al," said Sally, "I want to try the real thing tonight.  I
want to make real love."  She gave me a worried look.  "Please
make it nice, don't hurt me like those other boys did."

   I assured her I would never hurt her on purpose.  We huddled
together in a relaxed tangle and rested.  We talked of the day's
events and the future of the South and a hundred other things.

   I began to feel I could make another try at pleasing a girl
and asked Sally if she still wanted to.  Penelope move off to the
side and Sally locked lips with me.  We kissed and caressed until
Sally said she was ready.  I rolled her to the bed.  I stoked her
sex spread open, then worked a finger into her.  I wiggled it
getting a giggle in reply.

   "That felt funny, it didn't hurt so put your thingy in!"

   I worked in another finger to be sure.  She stretched to take
it and it didn't look like she felt any pain.  I coated the head
of my cock on what I brought out of her, then, slowly very
slowly, pushed it in.  She chewed on her lip as it went in, but
she said it didn't hurt.  It just felt really big going in.
Satisfied that we wouldn't hurt her I began to to do what needed
done.  Sally didn't have the idea of pushing back against my
thrusts, so I pulled her butt toward me to give it to her.  She
didn't take the hint, but she did squirm beneath me.  I left
things as they were and got to work.  I began kissing her on the
out-stroke and she took up the practice.  It didn't take long for
her to become lost within her own sensations.  She went off
bucking like an angry mule.  She sounded like one too.  My own
pleasure having been satisfied earlier, I was not ready and
decided not to keep at her, but save it for Penelope.

   "My God, that really is worth doing, it ain't no lie!  Don't
pull out yet, Al," said my happy little lover.  "I never really
believed women liked a man in them, I thought they did it to keep
men from leaving, or for money.  I knew I'd have to do it
someday, but I didn't think it would feel good.  Thank you!"  She
planted a kiss on my cheek.

   I pulled out then and we resumed the tangle of limbs.  Sally
was gushing over how good she felt and how much she looked
forward to the future now.  Penelope and I egged her on.
Finally, she conceded that it was Penelope's turn and scooted
away.

   Penelope and I began to make love.  I didn't last long this
time, but remained hard enough to finish her off.

   We soon fell asleep in a happy tangle.

   I woke well before the sun needing to pee.  I sneaked into my
own bed, hoping the men hadn't noticed my absence from it.

   In the morning the men were full of tales about the show
they'd seen, away from the ladies, but also the fact that Price
was believed to be headed toward us.  The commander of the
garrison was trying to get confirmation and orders from
Headquarters.  I went to town to see what the truth was.  The
telegraph was down, no orders had come yet.  A messenger with
armed guards tried to get to Grant, they came back after running
into a Reb cavalry patrol.  A party was sent out to repair the
telegraph.  They never came back and the telegraph stayed down.
The last exchange that had gotten through had said Grant was 
aware of Price's movement and help was on the way.  I went back
to the cabin to prepare my group to leave.

   Leaving was not an easy prospect.  Baggage was no problem.  My
men had no more than they carried on march.  The ladies had more,
but the total of their luggage would fit in one carpetbag.
Horses were no problem, we had brought one for each of us.
Horsemanship was.  Out of our party, only I could match the skills
of Reb cavalry veterans.  Penelope and two of my men were trained
and could do well enough.  Sally and the remaining men were so
new to the saddle they'd be lucky to remain in it during a chase.
The major roads were clearly watched.  We could likely avoid the
patrols using back roads and game trails.  We lacked the knowledge
of them and had no idea where to find a guide we could trust.  We
packed up and stayed where we were.  I sent a man to Headquarters
to await word of evacuation plans.  That word never got to us.
My man came back, late, with only the report that the Commander
still didn't know what to do.

   He pulled out most of his forces in the night.  He forgot to
send us word of his move.  In his shoes I might have forgotten an
unauthorized party myself.  We and a small rearguard detachment
were left behind.  Price took the town without a shot before the
day was over.

----------------------------{ War }------------------------------

   We hid ourselves at the spring belonging to Penelope's cousin.
The location was remote from town itself.  We camped rough.  This
was not a problem for my men, we'd done it daily for much of the
war.  Sally too had lived much of her life that way.  Penelope
hadn't, but she was too well mannered to complain.

   Price, and his troops, had other things to do besides seek us
out.  They'd captured the town full of supplies.  It had been
used as a supply dump.  Buildings, used as makeshift warehouses,
were bulging with food and gunpowder.  A train was stranded on
the siding full of more food and blankets.  The rearguard only
managed to destroy a fraction of it before they were driven out.
The only danger to us was troops commandeering wagons.  None
ventured up our unlikely looking trail.

   We only had to wait, undetected, for the Union counterattack.
Price didn't have the men to hold territory.  He could hope to
defeat any Union detachment in the region, but not any two
combined.  Help was on the way.

   In the mean time, food was limited.  We hadn't been on the
march and the men didn't have the normal three day rations in
their haversacks.  We could hunt, but firing guns was not a good
way to stay hidden.  We could forage nearby farms, but that ran
the risk of being seen.  We could forage wild edibles, if we
could identify them.  In the end we did them all, careful of the
risks.

   The ladies and I could not play.  That was sad, but not too
bad.  Sally slept against me.  She was really too old for it to
be proper, but no one in camp cared.  She was young enough to
have their sympathy.  Sally stayed by my side almost constantly.
She was with me so much that the men kidded, when neither lady
was around, that I wiped her butt for her.  We did get in a bit
of kissing and touching on the sly.  It was all the more exciting
for the danger of being caught.  At night she rubbed herself
against my hand, but we couldn't risk enough to satisfy her.
Penelope stayed properly aloof.

   The Confederates held Iuka for five days.  On the fourth day
we heard fighting.  There was more the next.  We risked sending
someone out to scout to the north and west.  The fighting had
been to the southwest and we hoped that the patrols had been
withdrawn.  We also hoped Grant had sent more than one detachment
to reclaim the town.  The second proved true.  We mounted up and
rode, as a group, to meet the northern force.  This proved to be
Gen. Ord's department.  Grant was with them.

   "Captain Saunders, we have to stop meeting in the aftermath of
defeats.  I'm beginning to dread seeing you.  Have a cigar?"

   "Is it a defeat?  We've had no news.  We hid out when the town
was taken."

   "It's not really a defeat, just a setback.  Gen. Price is good,
better than some of the Generals under my command.  He bought
time by whipping part of Rosecrans' army.  What he does with that
time remains to be seen.  He can't defeat the two departments
I've got here, and he knows it.  He'll retreat, I want to catch
him.  The way this operation's going he might get away.  So what
brings you here?  You belong near Memphis."

   I explained my mission and the reason for being in Iuka.  He
was aware of the plan, but not that I was involved.

   "Made any progress?"

   "We've caught two.  In the time I've been out of touch they
might have caught the others.  I have one ironclad confession."

   "Sounds good.  That young lady the victim?  Who's the other?"

   I confirmed his guess about Sally and told him about
Penelope's involvement.  He wanted to meet them.  "They're both
Confederates by choice.  They may not be impressed with you."

   I made the introductions.  Sally and Penelope were polite, of
course, but no more.  Grant was charming and by the end of the
conversation the ladies were charmed.  Grant begged leave of
them.

   "Was that really Grant?" asked Penelope.  "He seemed nicer
than his reputation."

   I cautioned her against forming opinions based on local press.
"Grant is not the monster Southern editors would make him out to
be.  I doubt most Confederate Generals are as bad as the Northern
press says.  John Brown was a nasty piece of work no matter what
popular opinion, in the north, says today."

   She nodded, but said no more.

   I went to arrange transport back to Corinth.

-------------------------{ Partings }----------------------------

   I met with Sheriff Davis.  The court martial had already
handed over the two cavalrymen.  My sergeant had identified the
artillerymen, but they'd deserted before he could arrest them.
Civil court was in two days.

   He outlined his plan for the band of outlaws.  A false rumor
of a gold shipment had been put out.  The shipment would travel
by waggon from Jackson, Tenn. to Corinth.  The waggon would break
down at a farm on the way.  The farm was abandoned.  I and my men
were to forage near there.  He and a posse of hale elders would
ride to the farm at the first sound of shooting.  If all went
well, his men would drive the band toward me and I could pin them
down.  They would be caught between us.  He'd accept any
surrenders, but any that fought were to be slaughtered.  He
wanted that band put to rest.

   I had the next two evenings with the ladies.  The ladies
worked out a deal, Penelope would have me to herself the first
night and Sally the second.  We rode with Sally to visit the
Boones, who'd agreed to take her in for the night.  Then it was
back to Penelope's house.

   We wanted this night to last, for it might be the last.  We
were kissing as soon as the door closed behind us.  We made it as
far as the divan.

   Take me quickly, now.  We can be more leisurely later," She
said.

   Getting her out of the dress made 'quickly' a relative term,
but we had fun doing it.  I kissed each bit of flesh as it was
revealed.  By the time we had it off we were in no mood to remove
mine.  The coat and hat came off.  My pants were lowered to half
mast.  That was as far as we went.  I was in her half a moment
later.  She was good and ready.  She laughed and cheered me on to
go faster.  She came quickly, with a smile on her face.  I wasn't
far behind.  Sated, we cuddled for a while.

   "I'm dripping on the cover.  Let me up to make supper," she
said.  She put on her nightdress.  We talked as we ate.

   "Al, what do you think will become of us?" asked Penelope.

   "I don't know.  Until this war is over I don't control my own
movements.  I can't promise to visit and I'm not sure you would
want me to.  Life can get pretty hard on a woman who takes an
enemy as a lover."

   "True, but that is not what I meant.  What do you think will
happen to the South?  I can't see a victory anymore, but what
will loss be like?"

   "The men will return.  Some degree of normal life will be
restored to the towns.  Bitter feelings, on both sides, will be
around for many years, perhaps for the rest of our lives.  The
Federal government will be hard on the South and not everything
they do will be justified.  I'm afraid you are in for a hard
time, maybe harder than the disruption war has brought."

   "I'm afraid you are right, very afraid.  I don't want the
South that was to fade away.  I've been to the North, I couldn't
live through a life like that.  You may like the bustle, noise,
and smoke.  You may not notice the inhumanity.  I can't endure
any of it."  Her head hung down.  She looked defeated already.

   "Not much noise or smoke in my neck of the woods.  The cities
are like that, but I never saw it until I was mustered to
Cincinnati.  I think you will find most of the north little
different than the south."

   "I hope not to see any of the north.  Win or lose, I will
remain Southern to the death."  The look of proud defiance on
Penelope's face spoke volumes.

   "And Confederate to the death?"

   "If we lose, I can abandon Confederacy, but never Southern
values.  I can make peace, but not peace at any price.  I can
forgive.  I will never forget, or back down!"

   "If you can define and distill Southern values apart from
slave holding values, I will applaud you from the sidelines.  The
values that fired some our nations finest men should not perish.
I'm afraid you will find stiff resistance from some quarters."

   "I'm afraid you are right.  Al, tonight must be the end
between us.  I should never have taken you into my bed.  I can't
find it in my heart to regret doing so, but I can't continue.  I
will give you use of the house with Sally tomorrow night, but
this night is the end for us.  If ever we meet again we must be
proper, and chaste.  Can you except that, please?"

   "I can.  It is clear we would not be happy together
permanently.  It is better to make a clean break.  I shall miss
what might have been, always."

   She leaned over to give me a kiss.  "Thank you, but tonight is
not over, yet."

   And it wasn't.  We spent that last hour in sweet, slow,
lovemaking.  I think we were both trying to make it last out of
the knowledge it would be the last.

   In later years, Penelope married a veteran officer of Wheeler's
cavalry.  Both were natives of Chattanooga, and they settled
there.  He had a political career, mostly in law enforcement.  It
was rocky during reconstruction, but he outlived that and
triumphed as a Southern political voice.  She was an influential
speaker in her own right, on women's suffrage.  Unlike the
harpies that garner the most news, but like some of her sisters
in that movement, she touted it from the viewpoint of mothers and
grandmothers exerting a strong moral voice to counter the
excesses of male politicians.  She championed family and
sobriety.  She praised strong, chivalrous, men and matronly,
virtuous, women.  Her message was too conservative for many, but
it played well in the south.  If you wish to say her behaviour
with me didn't conform to these standards, St.s Paul and
Augustine did far worse than either her or me.  Repentance and
reform are available to all, at any time.  The rest of her life
is an example for us all.  May God comfort them both in their
final years.

   As I left her house a shot rang out.  The ball whistled past
my right ear.  As before, the man that fired it was gone before I
could catch him.

   In the morning I collected Miss Brown for the trial.  It did
not take long.  With a confession and guilty plea from one, and
the testimony of two eyewitnesses against the other, the outcome
was assured.  The Judge gave the one who confessed ten years hard
labor.  The penitentiary was in Confederate hands, but that was
the Sheriff's problem to solve.  The other he sentenced to hang.

   We returned to Miss Pennypacker's house.  She wasn't there.

   "Al, is your job here over?  Do you have to leave now?" asked
Sally.

   "Not yet, but soon.  We may find your other attackers and I'll
have to return for the trials."

   "Then this might be our last night?"

   "Maybe, Miss Pennypacker has said goodbye.  She might not
welcome me to visit you again."

   "Will you take me for a walk, then tuck me in really special
tonight?"

   I took her for a walk.  Sally talked almost nonstop. It was
all about the present and possible future.  It included a lot of
nonsense and some speculation.  I bought her a stick of peppermint
candy and told her what a pretty girl she was.  She was
astonished.  She gave me a big kiss on the cheek.  She jumped up
and down.  She broke down and cried, blubbering that no one had
ever treated her so well before.  My heart ached for her.

   We returned to a cold supper left behind by Penelope.  Then I
put Sally to bed.

   I wanted the night to be special for her, not hard to do given
her life.  I shucked her out of her dress and pulled the
nightdress over her.  I brushed out her hair, singing silly songs
while I worked.  I lead her to bed and leaned down to kiss her
forehead.  She grabbed me and kissed my mouth, hard.

   "Come to bed with me," she blushed and continued, "make love
to me one last time."

   I removed my own clothes and joined her on the bed.  At first
we clenched and kissed happily.  This went on for an undefinable
time.  I had intended to make this last night together last and
work her into a state of readiness for strong pleasure.  Sally
had other ideas.  Having been raised with so little pleasure in
her life she had not learned the concept of deferred
gratification.  I was to learn, from first hand experience, that
even better raised youngsters have trouble with that concept.
She pronounced herself ready, and would brook no delay.  When I
sought to lubricate myself on her juices prior to entry she told
me to stop messing around and put it in.  She was not so ready as
she thought and it was a rough entry.  Still, things worked out
in the end.  I had to keep thrusting after I'd come, and diddle
her with a finger at the same time, but she had her pleasure.
Spent, we snuggled as I whispered words of praise into her ear.

   "Must this really be the end?  Can't you take me with you?"

   "I can't take you with me, you would not like living in a
military camp.  Girls who do are treated as whores.  Food is
often scarce.  We sometimes march for hours after exhaustion sets
in.  This is likely the last night I can visit you."

   She cried.  I stroked her hair and sang her a lullaby.  I
ended it with a kiss to the forehead and a goodbye.  She sniffed
and smiled.  She thanked me and said goodbye.

   Oddly, no one shot at me that night.

   The operation against the raiders went off without a hitch.
It was clear that the raiders were used to attacking the
defenceless, not veteran soldiers, even if they were elderly and
out of practice veterans.  My men were not really needed, the
guards and posse could have done the job without us.  My men and
I boarded the train for Memphis that evening.

--------------------------{ Return }---------------------------

   Two weeks later I received a message from Regimental HQ.  Two
of the remaining suspects in Sally's rape had been caught trying
to board a train north.  I was needed in Corinth for the trials.

   Confederate Generals Price and Van Dorn were on the move,
destination unknown, so I was to take ten men with me again.  The
prevailing theory was that they would attack Grant in Jackson,
Tennessee.

   I arrived just in time for the Court Martial.  It was more
complicated than before, these men had more charges against them.
Convincing the court to remand them to civil court for rape
almost failed.  A compromise was reached, they would stand civil
trial and be returned to Federal custody afterward.

   That evening I went to see Miss Brown to tell her about the
outcome.  Miss Pennypacker was cool and correct with me.  Sally
ran up to hug me.  She was called off by Miss Pennypacker.  After
that we were seated to talk over the coming trial.  I was not
invited to stay any longer than that conversation took.

   I returned to camp on the town square.  Late in the evening I
heard someone challenged by the sentry.  Minutes later Sally was
delivered to my tent.

   "How did you get here?" I asked.

   "I walked, silly."

   "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

   "I snuck out when Miss Penny wasn't looking.  Can I stay here
tonight?"

   Sergeant Baker laughed.  "Someone likes you, Sir."

   "Well someone needs to learn manners and responsibility.
First, Miss Pennypacker does not like being called Penny."  Sally
stuck out her tongue at me.  "Second, the moment she finds you
are gone she will panic.  There is still one attacker on the
loose.  If you disappear neither he nor his companions will be
tried.  She will have the Sheriff tear the town apart.  She's
responsible for your safety now.  We must take you home."

   Sally thought for a moment.  "You could send someone to tell
her I'm staying here tonight.  Where could I be safer?"

   The Sergeant laughed again.  "She has you there, Sir."

   "Sergeant, don't you have duties to attend to?  You aren't
helping here, you know.  What if this was one of your daughters
wanting to stay the night with a man?"

   "Well Miss, I'm afraid he has a point.  It's not proper for
you to spend the night.  We'll have to get you home."

   "Why can't I stay here?  Miss Penny's not my mother!  I can
stay where I want!  Al's nice to me.  He can keep me safe."

   "Is Penelope taking care of you or not?  She's taken you in,
out of the goodness of her heart, and assumed responsibility for
you.  If you wish to leave her care you will have to tell her
that.  I've already told you I can't keep you."

   "Sir, I can send a man to tell Miss Pennypacker the girl is
here and ask what she wants to do about it.  Miss Brown is safe
here.  You know, I do let my daughters stay with their grandpa
all the time," said the Sergeant.

   "Send someone.  But do remember I'm not Sally's father or
grandfather.  And I doubt you'd let your girls stay with me back
home."

   Sgt. Baker chuckled.  "Maybe not.  And maybe I will so the wife
and I can have a peaceful reunion together."  He saluted and
left.

   Sally ran up to give me a hug.  "Please let me stay, we don't
have to do anything, just let me sleep snuggled against you.  I
feel so safe and warm that way."

   "You're too old for that.  The men accepted that in the field,
but no one will here.  They'll brand you a whore, and not look
too kindly on me."

   "I don't care, I'll know the truth and that's all that counts.
No one will care about me after the trial anyway.  I'll be back
on my own, cold and starving.  At least let me have one safe,
warm, night.  Please?"

   We said no more for a while.  I took her on my lap and held
her.  She put her head on my shoulder and kept quiet.  The
Sergeant returned and I motioned him to sit.  We kept a
comfortable silence for some time.

   "Life alone isn't safe for a girl like you," said Baker, "you
should try to stay on Miss Pennypacker's good side.  I think
she'll keep you if you do.  The Sheriff might look out for you
too."

   "They don't really care.  I'm just a project to them, someone
to pity.  Someone to make them feel good about themselves."
Sally sounded bitter.

   "Have people treated you like that before?" I asked.  "That
might have been true of Miss Pennypacker at first.  I think she
truly likes you now.  And Sheriff Davis wasn't here to be
impressed by the speeches that urged people to take care of you.
To him you're just a sweet girl who's been hurt.  He's a good man
at heart."

   "And what about the Boones?" put in Sgt. Baker.  "They seem to
like you, and they are good folks."

   "The Boones have been good to me.  They treated me with
respect all along.  No one else has, until very recently.  If
Miss Pennypacker and the Sheriff are so good, why didn't they do
something until I was hurt?"

   "Maybe they didn't think they needed to," said Baker.  "You
had your mother to look after you."

   "My mother was useless!  She was a drunk; a whore, sometimes!
She couldn't look after herself.  We starved and slept out doors
a lot.  Couldn't everyone see that?  Couldn't they tell she was
no good?"  Sally was crying into my shoulder now.

   "Most likely not.  People don't like to pry.  They just
assumed your mother took care of you the way a mother ought to,"
I said.  "Sheriff Davis must have been aware of your mother's
drinking, but he didn't know she neglected you.  There might not
have been much he could do about it if he did.  In just a few
years you will be old enough to take care of yourself.  These
good folks could help you be ready, if you let them."

   At that point we were interrupted by the messenger's return.
Miss Pennypacker would give her permission for Sally to spend the
night, but the girl was grounded on her return home, if she
bothered to return.

   "That's not fair!  See, she's bullying me," said Sally.

   "She's treating you like a wayward daughter," said Sgt. Baker,
"and saying you have a choice about being a daughter.  That
sounds fair to me, make your choice so I can send word back to
her."

   "But she's grounding me!"

   "She ought to be dragging you out of here, instead she lets
you find comfort with a good man and teaches you that it's not
the proper thing to do.  Name your choice."  The Sergeant looked
like a stern father.  I almost pitied his daughters once they
reached Sally's age.

   "I'll stay the night."  She lowered her head.  "I'll return
tomorrow.  I'll be a good girl."

   The Sergeant and messenger left.  Sally snuggled against me.
"I've never been grounded before, do you think she'll let me out
to sell fruit?"

   We talked a while.  Taps sounded in the cavalry camp that
shared the square.  I put Sally to bed, in her shift and drawers,
and sang her a lullaby.  I promised to come to bed soon.  I
stroked her hair until she slept.  I walked the camp smoking and
making sure all was secure.  Finally I too went to bed.

   I woke, very early, rock hard.  That was pretty normal.
Waking to a young lady stroking that hardness and giggling was
not.  Sally scooted closer and kissed me.  Then she pulled my
hand to her drawers.  I got the idea.  I unfastened the button
and slid my hand in.  I rubbed her and she rubbed me.  We kissed,
unmindful of morning breath, until breathing grew to labored to
spare the effort to kiss.  As Sally grew to close to coming she
forgot to stroke me.  I stroked her all the more attentively.
She smothered her groans against my chest.  When she came she
gripped my sex hard.  I didn't mind.  When she regained enough to
pay attention to me she laid on my chest and belly.  She worked
my stiffness hard, giggling the whole time.  She even kissed it a
few times.  It exploded, shooting goo everywhere.  Sally wiped
her hands on my drawers.  We snuggled together, not saying a
word, until the camp started stirring.  We cleaned up with cold
water and dressed.

   The soldiers teased Sally, making much over her needing a
lullaby so much she came to see me.  They fussed over her and fed
her the best of our breakfast.  I could see how much she enjoyed
the attention.

   Court started at ten.  Things were not as easy as with the
first trial.  These men had hired an old coot of a lawyer who
argued everything.  Sally and the soldier who'd confessed
testified.  The lawyer tried to fluster them, and the Judge let
him try.  We ended the day unfinished, with a session scheduled
for the next day.

   I, and my men, walked Sally home.  Miss Pennypacker met us at
the door.  She waited until Sally apologised before letting her
in.  She closed the door on the rest of us.

   The next day in court went better.  The men on trial were put
on the stand.  The county's lawyer tricked them into so many
conflicting statements no one could believe them.  After an hour
the jury pronounced them guilty.  They would hang, or might if
the federal government gave them back.

   Just shy of Miss Pennypacker's door I said goodbye to Sally.
"I have to leave in the morning.  You are grounded, so this is
the last chance."  I told her to be good and listen to Miss
Pennypacker.  I told her to learn all she could.  I told her I
would write to her.  We hugged and cried.  The men pretended to
ignore us.  I turned her over to Penelope, getting a goodbye from
her.

   As I turned away a shot rang out.  A bullet whacked into the
wall.  This time the bastard didn't get away, my men were too
quick.  When they brought him to me I saw a soldier I didn't
recognize.  He wasn't the missing rapist, that was plain.  His
hair and build was all wrong.

   "Fornicator!  Sodomite!  You called down the wrath of God on
us!  You caused all those men to be slaughtered at Shiloh!  Shame
on you for buggering the boy in the Meetinghouse!"  The man was
foaming at the mouth.  I'd never seen someone do that for real.

   "What are you talking about?" I asked.

   "I saw you, you and the whore, with the boy.  I saw you come
from the Meetinghouse, undressed, and on Sunday too!  You
buggered the boy at the alter.  Blasphemer!  It's no wonder God
turned his back on us!  You killed all those men!  You did it!"

   "Wadda ya want us to do with him, Captain?"

   "Turn him over to the Provost.  He's shot at me several times.
There are witnesses."

   Penelope and Sally came out to see me.  They each told me they
were glad I was unhurt and gave me a hug.  We parted, but not for
the last time, not yet.

------------------------{ First Blood }------------------------

    We had to stay long enough for the man who'd shot at me to be
formally charged.  We would have to return for his trial too.

   No ladies visited me in camp that night.

   In the morning we heard rumours that a force of Confederates
was near.  It was still considered a faint.

   The Provost and the Sheriff argued over who had jurisdiction
in the shooting of me.  It had involved two soldiers, but taken
place in town.  No deal was struck, the principals were dismissed
while the two hashed it out.  I'd be here another night, the
train had left already.

   No resolution was reached by the next morning.

-------------------------{ Bloodbath }-------------------------

   The Confederates hit us hard.  They were well led, no thanks
to Gen. Van Dorn.  Their initial attack was against a force of
two regiments, far outnumbered by the four divisions of Rebels.
Those two regiments did their job, and then some.  Our Generals
rushed their men into battle formations along a line of defences
constructed by the Rebels and improved by our own work crews.
Even so, the Confederate attack was hard enough for a brigade to
get through to town.  This created a problem for me, personally.
They overran our camp on the green.  I attached my tiny command
to the cavalry we'd shared the camp with and we fought to contain
the invaders.  It was a hard fight, house to house, and a snipers
war.

   At one point in the afternoon we were shifting position
through an alley.  We were pushing our way through refuges trying
to get out of the line of fire.  They would have been glad for
the Confederates to win, as long as they lived to see the
victory.  We had to be on the lookout for civilians taking
potshots at us.  We came upon a small band of Rebel soldiers
who'd surrounded Miss Brown.  They were taunting her, I don't
think they would have harmed her, and she was screaming and
crying.  I motioned my men into firing positions, but we dare not
shoot for fear of hitting Miss Brown.  We were in a standoff.

   "Leave her be!  She already suffered at the hands of soldiers.
Just back off and let her go, I'll let you retreat to the street
unharmed."  I hoped they'd be smart enough to take my offer.

   "Or you'll do what, Yankee boy?" said the man I identified as the
leader.

   "You are out gunned and out positioned.  Stay and you all
die."

   "We ain't scared of you, Yankee boy!"

   He was a fool.  Luckily a wiser man was among them.  "Let's go
boys.  The Captain's got us dead to rights and the girl's done us
no wrong.  Jake can take on the Yankees by hisself if he wants
to."  Most of the band started walking to the street.  The rest
didn't hold out for more than half a minute.

   Miss Brown ran to me and gave me a frightened hug.  She begged
me to let her stay with us.  I told her to go east until she was
out of town.  She wouldn't leave, until a shot took one of my
privates in the arm.  I gave her a little shove in the right
direction and she went running off.

   The fighting continued all night and into the next day.  The
main army had it's hands full and couldn't spare us troops to put
down the Rebels in town.  They represented no threat to the
defence of Corinth.  They couldn't get supplies.  The couldn't
get more men.  They couldn't turn and attack our defences from
behind unless they destroyed the troops in town first.  It was a
standoff on a grand scale.

   When the main Confederate force retreated the fight in town
altered.  Now, the only hope for the stranded Rebels lay in
finding a line of retreat themselves.  Our objective was to
prevent them leaving until our main army could organize a relief
attack.  We prevailed.

   The fighting over, I sent two of my men to check on the safety
of Misses Pennypacker and Brown.  They returned with Miss Brown.
They could not find Miss Pennypacker, but heard she'd left town
to return to Chattanooga.  This left me with the task of finding
a home for Sally.  The boys were all for taking her in ourselves,
but I and the Sergeant were more realistic.  Even so she ended up
with us for the night.  We spent it in Miss Pennypackers house,
as a group.  Sally had her own room.  The rest of us slept in the
parlor.  We cleaned up and locked the door behind us the next
day.

----------------------{ All for Nought }-----------------------

   My first task was to contact the Sheriff.  It turned out that
the Rebels had opened the jail.  All the prisoners were gone.
There was some hope that most would be recaptured, but until that
happened no trial would take place and the convicted men were
free.  I had no further reason to be in town.

   The Sheriff suggested we try to get the Boones to take Sally
in.  I thought that a good idea.  Sally and I left town to visit
them. 

  The Boones welcomed us and told me they'd tried to take her
in in the past, but she'd refused.  Sally said she'd thought
herself too big to need their help, now she knew better.  There
was much hugging all around.  I was glad to leave the girl in
their care.  Sally begged for me to remain for the night, but I
didn't.  I didn't want to scandalize the Boones, and I had some
serious soul searching to do.  We parted at the gate to her new
home.  We both were in tears.  We whispered our love to one
another with great passion.  I turned and walked away thinking I
would never see her again.

   The train ride to Memphis was no more pleasant than the ride
out had been.  Fall had mitigated the drought, but too late for
the land to recover this year.  It was still hot.  The car stank.
Some of my men were wounded and in pain.  The reverses of the
last few months had everyone depressed.

   It was in this mood that I thought on my own situation.  The
man who had shot at me had laid charges that were false, in fact,
but not far off the mark.  I was guilty of fornication, not the
sodomy he thought, but not much different from it.  I did not
accept his charge that God was punishing the United States Army
for my sins.  Even with the casual understanding of theology I
had then I knew that that is not how sin works.  I thought and
prayed over my state and resolved to reform my life.  As we shall
see, my resolve did not yet take hold, but that is for another
time.

-------------------------{ Aftermath }--------------------------

   I always hesitate to write these entries, not for my own sake,
but for the sake of the others involved.  A confessional diary is
a good way to order ones commitment to repentance, and a way to
inspire those so lost in sin they cannot see a way out to reform.
The Church has encouraged them for both reasons.  Still, I pray
they will not be read by others until anyone who might be
mentioned is beyond the grave.

   I have already mentioned some of Penelope's further life.  We
met one time after, at a lecture she gave.  We stole a few
minutes alone and made our peace.  She is elderly and retired as
I write this.  I only wish that it not see the light of day until
her grandchildren will no longer suffer shock over it.

   Sally's fate worries me more.  She turned up in Marietta two
years after the war.  She could not stand living under
Reconstruction.  She preferred to take her Yankees straight-up.
We did not resume our state as lovers, instead she took up with
my former drummer.  They married and had four children.  One of
their boys married my second daughter.  As such, revelation of
our affair could tear my family to shreds.  She and I have mutual
grandchildren now.  I ask anyone who sees this document to hold
off publishing it until long after we all are dead.

   May God have mercy on us all.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Taken from the 'Confessions of Brother Dunstan' a manuscript found
in the ruins of St. Steven's, Covington, Kentucky after the flood
of 1921.

..___________ 
|.*"o.|*"o.:|
|*#/8\|#/8\~|
|__/_\|_/_\_|


*-*-*
Jeff
Remove PANTIES to reply.

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