"Any cavalry at the house?"
"A squadron; but they are ordered to be in saddle for their quarters at midnight. There's the bugle for boots and saddles now."
"Yes; by the Eternal, what luck! Davis will sleep there."
"So Clem says; the state chamber has been prepared for him; all the rest except Lee go back to Williamsburg."
"We couldn't have arranged it better if we had been given the ordering of it. Are all the boats here?"
"Yes."
"And the negroes—how many have you?"
"I can't say. They've been dropping across in twos and threes since ten o'clock. The curious thing is that the women are more taken with the idea of fight than the men. We shall have enough—too many, I fear."
"We'll make them our safety, Jim, my boy; we'll divide them up, and, in case of pursuit, send them in different directions to confuse the troops."
"How many men are you going to take to the house?"