"I reckon we'll wait a bit," Darius replied firmly. "Unless I'm way out of my reckonin', yonder man was in the fight, an' has scooped up one of the baggage-wagon mules to help him along."
"But our party is too big for safety now, and what will it be if we allow every straggler to trail on behind? We might as well follow the other fugitives."
All this I said like a peevish child, and no sooner had I ceased speaking than Darius seized me by the shoulder, forcing me to turn until I had a full view of the newcomer.
"Look at the man," the sailor cried sternly, "an' then say whether you will allow every straggler to trail on behind us when the road is as free to one as another?"
In an instant I was covered with confusion and remorse. The man to whose company I had objected was none other than my own father, and as he approached I could see that he was wounded in the right leg.
There was nothing I could say just then to show my comrades how deeply I regretted having spoken in such a tone, therefore I ran forward to greet him who, a moment previous, I had been eager to leave behind.
My comrades joined me as I saluted my father much more warmly than I might have done but for the unkind words I had spoken, and in a few seconds we heard all the story he could tell.
He had been wounded quite severely during the early part of the battle, and went to the rear in search of the surgeons. Failing to find those whose duty it was to be near the scene of action, and unable to walk any further owing to loss of blood, he laid down under one of the baggage-wagons which had been used to transport ammunition.
Here he bandaged his wound as well as possible, and was about to set out once more in search of aid, when the final retreat was ordered. Unable to walk, he would soon have been made a prisoner, or, perhaps, in the heat of the moment, received worse treatment, when the idea of escaping on one of the mules occurred to him.
Cutting the traces he rode off, taking a course to the north in his ignorance of the country; but, discovering his mistake, he turned about, and the first persons he saw were those of our party.