They were evidently examining us carefully; and I could not help admiring the daring of the well-mounted, gaily-dressed men who had halted about a couple of hundred yards away, right in front of our guns, which, at a word, would have belched forth a shower of grape.
There was not much for them to see, only the gunners with their linstocks, and the heads of the support of infantry, sheltering for the most part in the houses on either side of the road, the limbers and horses of each gun, and those of the gunners being back in an opening a few yards away, and completely hidden from the party in front.
And as I watched them, I could not help thinking that a clever officer who was not sparing of his men, might easily take our guns, for if one party made a dash at them, and drew our fire, a reserve party might dash in, and sabre the gunners before they had time to reload.
Just then I was conscious of a curious movement among our men, eyes being turned to me appealingly, while every gunner was on the qui vive, and I could see that at a word the guns would be rapidly discharged.
But I had no orders to commence hostilities, unless an attack was made, and I stood as eager as the men, watching the scouting party, as there was a sudden movement among them. They opened out, and one whom I had not before seen rode through them quite to the front, and just then a voice behind me whispered—
“Look, Gil! Do you see?”
Yes, I had seen; and I had been so taken up by the sight that I had not heard Brace come up to the guns.
“I could fetch that dandy chap down, and a dozen more,” I heard a man whisper.
“Silence there,” said Brace, sternly. Then to me, “Why, Gil, I thought he must be miles and miles away from here.”
“Then it is Ny Deen,” I said excitedly. “I thought I must be wrong.”