The numerous fires kindled by the visitors with which to cook supper, or keep off the insects, served to illumine the scene, and on the opposite side of the river one could see the streets closely packed with human beings, who counted to spend the night in the open air.
It was eight o'clock in the evening, and I was yet doing guard duty, when a sudden outburst of noise from near about the court-house startled us, for it seemed to be the signal of that uprising or outbreak which we had been fearing might occur before morning.
At first it was no more than angry cries and yelps of pain; but these increased steadily until it seemed as if a riot was well under way.
There was no need of carrying any information to the headquarters' shanty. General Hamilton was on the guard line very near to my post, within two minutes after the first cries were heard, and he remained there in a listening attitude, turning his head this way and that like the dog who seeks to find a lost trail.
A dozen or more of the chief men were with him, and I heard one of them ask anxiously:
"Can you guess why trouble should have begun at this time? I believed all the hot heads among our friends were on this side of the river."
"So they are, else would the brawl have been fanned into a battle long before this. Master Hunter," he cried sharply to the deputy, "form your men into line at the river bank to prevent any from leaving the encampment, and lose no time in doing so."
At the call for the guards to advance into line I stepped forward; but stopped very suddenly as the general seized me by the collar of my shirt.
"You and the comrade who aided in saving Sandy Wells' life are to wait here that I may have a moment's speech with you." Then, raising his voice, he cried, "Hunter, give the word as soon as you have a force at the riverbank sufficient to hold this throng in check!"
"The entire Regulation will be none too many for such service as that."