"And did your bullet do the same thing with his rifle?" inquired Dennis solemnly.
"I don't know. I never have heard. I did not know but that you might have heard something about the affair and could tell me what happened to that Yank. Were you ever down on the Peninsula?"
"Yes, sor," said Dennis promptly.
"Maybe you were down there helping McClellan get away as fast as his legs could carry him. You made good time!" laughed the guard.
"Faith, and we did," said Dennis, "but not as good as we might have made if the Johnnies had followed us up. They were so afraid that we would turn on them and take their little tin capital away from them that they ran as fast as they could go back to Richmond."
"We weren't running in that direction," said the soldier, unmoved by the bantering of Dennis. "Don't forget about Manassas. And now we have all yo' Yanks bottled up right here in Maryland."
"How's that?" asked Noel.
"Why, we'll soon have the garrisons of Harper's Ferry, Martinsburg, and every other body except McClellan's army, and we have thrown out Stuart's cavalry so that there won't be a Yank able to get through either way. It won't do him any good even to try."
"Wait a little while before you say that," suggested Noel, aware that Dennis was pulling him by his sleeve.
"Whist," whispered Dennis in one of his most penetrating tones. "Don't talk anymore with the Johnnie. I have something to say to ye that is of a good deal more importance."