Phil , the `` romantic chap , '' as he was called , looked his character to the life . Slender , swarthy , melancholy-eyed , and darkly-bearded ; with feminine features , mellow voice , and alternately languid or vivacious manners . A child of the South in nature as in aspect , ardent and proud ; fitfully aspiring and despairing ; without the native energy which moulds character and ennobles life . Months of discipline and devotion had done much for him , and some deep experience was fast ripening the youth into a man . Flint , the long-limbed lumberman , from the wilds of Maine , was a conscript who , when government demanded his money or his life , calculated the cost , and decided that the cash would be a dead loss and the claim might be repeated , whereas the conscript would get both pay and plunder out of government , while taking excellent care that government got very little out of him . A shrewd , slow-spoken , self-reliant specimen , was Flint ; yet something of the fresh flavor of the backwoods lingered in him still , as if Nature were loath to give him up , and left the mark of her motherly hand upon him , as she leaves it in a dry , pale lichen , on the bosom of the roughest stone . Dick `` hailed '' from Illinois , and was a comely young fellow , full of dash and daring ; rough and rowdy , generous and jolly , overflowing with spirits and ready for a free fight with all the world . Silence followed the last words , while the friendly moon climbed up the sky . Each man 's eye followed it , and each man 's heart was busy with remembrances of other eyes and hearts that might be watching and wishing as theirs watched and wished . In the silence , each shaped for himself that vision of home that brightens so many camp-fires , haunts so many dreamers under canvas roofs , and keeps so many turbulent natures tender by memories which often are both solace and salvation . Thorn paced to and fro , his rifle on his shoulder , vigilant and soldierly , however soft his heart might be . Phil leaned against the tree , one hand in the breast of his blue jacket , on the painted presentment of the face his fancy was picturing in the golden circle of the moon . Flint lounged on the sward , whistling softly as he whittled at a fallen bough . Dick was flat on his back , heels in air , cigar in mouth , and some hilarious notion in his mind , for suddenly he broke into a laugh . `` What is it , lad ? '' asked Thorn , pausing in his tramp , as if willing to be drawn from the disturbing thought that made his black brows lower and his mouth look grim . `` Thinkin ' of my wife , and wishin ' she was here , bless her heart ! set me rememberin ' how I see her fust , and so I roared , as I always do when it comes into my head . '' `` How was it ? Come , reel off a yarn , and let 's hear houw yeou hitched teams , '' said Flint , always glad to get information concerning his neighbors , if it could be cheaply done .
`` Tellin ' how we found our wives would n't be a bad game , would it , XXXXX ? ''
Dick Flint Illinois Maine Phil Thorn camp-fires lumberman rememberin yeou