"Is there haste? Is your information for my ear only? I'm nearly through."
"Plenty of time for dinner, sir. No harm can now come from hearing at once what I have to say."
"Go ahead, then. I'd like my staff to know."
"Well, sir, having got the enemy on the run, we kept them going so they could not mask what was behind them. There's a large force coming up."
"As large as ours?"
"I think so. I gained an eminence from which I obtained a good view. Major Jones told me to say that he would skirmish with the advance, delay it, and send word from time to time."
"All right. Get some dinner, then report to me."
"Yes, sir;" and Scoville saluted and departed without a glance at any one except his commander.
"What do you think of my scout, Miss Baron?" asked the general with a humorous twinkle in his eyes.
"He proved himself a gentleman last evening, sir, and now I should think he was proving a very good soldier, much too good for our interests."