“How do you know what they were? You didn’t see them.”
“Did you?”
“Well, no; but I heard them yell, and I heard their bullets singing, too. The swamp is full of them.”
“If they were Federal scouts you would have seen them,” said Rodney. “They would have closed around you before you had a chance to draw the revolver I see sticking out of your coat pocket.”
“It’s empty,” said the man, producing the weapon. “I never was in a fight before and never want to be again; but I tried to give them as good as they sent.”
“If you did not see any of the attacking party, what did you shoot at?”
“I fired in the direction from which the yells sounded, and so did all of us. As for the bullets, you couldn’t tell which way they came from, for they clipped the trees on all sides. Where are you and Griffin going?”
“Into the swamp to see if we can be of use to anybody.”
“I really wish you would, for I wouldn’t dare go back there myself. If they were not Yankees, who were they?”
“Didn’t you just tell me that I wasn’t there?” asked Rodney.