Watching intently (Metaphor)
Captain Asa Clardy was a coward. Though he had participated in the Mexican-American war and was generally viewed as a good a good soldier, the man lived in fear that someone would discover his numerous dark secrets. What would happen to his reputation as a brave war hero if people knew that Asa Clardy was a corruptionist and a murderer? The night when he was “selling the contraband” rifles, Clardy was especially nervous. It irked him that Thompson’s men were “looking down” their “throats.” He was afraid of someone recognizing him and report him.
Young love (Metaphor)
Jeff couldn’t believe his eyes and his luck. Lucy was standing just in front of him. It had been “fourteen months” since they saw each other. “As he held her close,” Jeff kissed “her eyebrow, her cheek, her ear.” The young soldier “could feel her heart pounding” and that feeling was something he “never wanted to forget,” for it was “a sweet miracle that couldn’t happen again in ten thousand years.” Even though she had her pick of “of all the swains and gallants” in Watie’s brigade, Lucy was “giving her heart to him.” Jeff couldn’t believe his luck.
Scared (Simile)
As the Union troops moved nearer the enemy, there was silence in the ranks. “Suddenly a muffled gunshot,” followed by a scream of agony, “rang out ahead.” The column was “thrown temporarily into confusion” and “slowed to a halt.” Waiter Van Orstrand, “a Douglas county boy” was “blubbering and sniffing.” His left hand was wrapped in “a bloody white bandage.” The poor boy tried to convince Captain Asa Clardy that it had been an accident, but the man didn’t believe. According to Asa Clardy, Waiter was “yellow as dandelion.” He believed that the boy had shot himself not to go to war.
Dark night (Simile)
Jeff told his comrade about the McComases. “Oscar,” he said, “I want you to look the other while I take that black-and -white heifer out of the corral” and “drive her back to the McComas farm.” “The beast went willingly”, though she knew the path. One hour later Jeff drove the animal quietly into the McComas corral and “locked the gate.” “A big smoky moon, yellow as brass,” was rising through “the branches of the apple trees.” That was a beautiful night and Jeff marveled at the peaceful scenery around him. Thanks to the large moon, he could find the path back without a mistake.
Guarantees (Simile)
Captain Asa Clardy was a liar and a coward, thus he couldn’t trust anyone. He just didn’t believe that a word could mean exactly what it supposed to mean. Asa Clardy got used to see the worst in people. That night he had a meeting with Thompson, but it wasn’t enough, Clardy wanted to talk to Watie, so he demanded it. He knew that he and his twelve thousand dollars in gold were “safe as a church.” Clardy knew that the rebels needed “other eight hundred” rifles too badly, and he alone “could get them for them.” The rebels wouldn’t dare to kill him.
