"What is it?"
"These men say there are three thousand rebel cavalry at Caledonia."
I suppose I looked incredulous, for one of the men said, very earnestly, "It's so, sir. Ask Mr. Hurt; he knows me."
"He's a good man," said Mr. Hurt; "but I don't believe three thousand any more than you do."
"It's really so!" cried the man with great earnestness. "Mr. Ashby saw them, and sent us over here to tell you, and the other Union people; and we have run our horses all the way across."
I glanced at the horses: they were covered with foam and mud. I looked at Mr. Hurt: his face had suddenly grown very serious.
"Did Edward Ashby see them himself?" he asked, in a low tone.
"Yes!"
"And he told you himself?"