By Bob Maksimchuk

In the last installment, we left Josey and his rebel friend at a river crossing.  There they met the boatman Sim Carstairs, Granny Hawkins, who runs a supply store, and a carpetbagger.  We discussed the loquacious Sim and now let’s see what we can learn from the unforgettable Granny Hawkins.

Josey orders the supplies they need from Sim and as Sim begins to load the horses, Granny Hawkins steps onto the front porch of the store.  This grizzled, toothless, old woman smoking a long pipe turns a cold gaze upon Josey, and calls him by name, to his surprise.  She then relates what the Union soldiers, who had been there a few hours earlier, told her:

“They say ye killed your own men…They say ye killed a slew of defenseless soldiers too.  They say ye are hard put and a desperate man, Josey Wales.  They say they are going to heel and hide ye to a barn door.  You...