“Dan Newman told me; or, rather, he told it to the captain and I overheard it.”
“Was he out here?” asked Leon, and he was so surprised that he could scarcely believe he heard aright. “Was he out here among the rebels?”
“He was, and he was the one that kept the squad from running into the pickets stationed at the bridge.”
Mr. Dawson then went on to tell what he knew about Dan, and before he got fairly started he had two surprised and angry boys for listeners. When he told how “that rebel fellow” had ridden on before them in company with Leon and Tom, and that he could easily capture them if they would only wait until they came back, Leon took off his hat, scratched his head and declared:
“If that fellow is at home when we get there I am going to have him arrested. I don’t see why the fellow didn’t wait.”
“Well, I don’t think he paid much attention to what Dan had to say,” replied Mr. Dawson. “He preferred to go on and see how many men there were at the bridge, and when he came back he would look into all the houses and see if there had been any evidences of hasty departure. I guess he didn’t find any until he got to our house, and then he found all he wanted,” added Mr. Dawson, with a laugh.
“Well, now, this beats me,” said Leon.
“Don’t it?” replied Tom.
“There was one amusing thing that was connected with the interview,” said Mr. Dawson, “and that was Dan’s rapid promotion. The captain made him a captain, too, and his brother a lieutenant.”
“Why, had the captain right to do that?”