"That you will not seek to know who I am, and that you will send me to General Meade at once."
"It seems to me that you are making two conditions."
"Well, sir," I reply, "the first is personal, and ought not to count. If you object to it, however, I withdraw it."
"Then, who are you?"
"I decline to say."
"Well, it makes no difference to me who you are, but I should like to know how I am to rely on what you tell."
"Captain," I say, "we are losing valuable time. Put me on a horse, and send me under guard to General Meade; you ride with me until I tell what I have to tell."
"That sounds like good sense. Here, Thomas, get your horse, and another for this man."
Two minutes pass and we are on the road. The captain says: "You see, I am giving you an escort rather than a guard. You served Thomas; now let him serve you. What is it you want to tell?"
"Ewell and Hill are at this moment marching around our--I mean your flank."