Tales told under the Devil’s Nose

So many stories…my favorite kind of history. Where to begin?
Maybe with a story told me by Cousin Jay….I think a double first cousin of my grandmother. Well, that’s close as I can get it without going off to look it up, and that would sidetrack me from the story.
This is one of three family stories I have heard about the Civil War. No one in the family ever talked about the War itself or what “Side” they were on. They had just all moved on, I guess.
Except for this:
The War had been going on for a long while. There was shortage of various food supplies. And there was always someone you had to be on the outlook for.
One day the family had been fortunate enough to get hold of some coffee…the first in ages. She set the water to boil. She put the coffee in and left it on the stove to season. It smelled so good.
Someone stuck his head in the door and yelled,”There’s a soldier riding a horse up the hill!”
Quick as taking a breath, she lifted her skirts and said, “Set the pot here between my feet.”
The soldier rode slowly into the yard. Slowly, he dismounted.
He came on into the house. He surely smelled the coffee…but there was no pot on the stove. He asked if there wasn’t some coffee, but no one could point him to any. He looked around, and finally left the house. Rode on down the hill.