“Women and children?”
“Yes, ’most twice as many, I reckon, though I never counted ’em.”
“And you say you know all the ins and outs of the fort?”
“Look here, how many times do you want me to tell you? Of course I do; but what’s that got to do with you?”
Nathan spoke in such a disrespectful tone that Isaac literally trembled lest the corporal should fall upon him in his wrath.
“Wait you here till I come back, an’ see to it that you don’t move from this spot.”
The corporal gave this command in his sternest tones, and without waiting for a reply hastened off in the direction where the officers had disappeared, while Nathan stood looking at his new acquaintance in mingled surprise and bewilderment.
“Now, what does that old man mean when he tells me to wait here? What right’s he got to order me ’round?”
“Don’t get disgruntled,” Isaac said imploringly. “I tell you he’s a great soldier, and you’ll see that his order means something, ’cause the corporal don’t make foolish talk.”
“Then, what was it I heard when I come up here an’ he was tellin’ the men what to do, but backed down after findin’ they were ready to follow him?”