"It is entirely so, sir."
"Good! You say that he brought to you such and such an order, the order, in effect, which, even so, you improperly construed and improperly acted upon, an order, however, which was never sent by me. A soldier who was by testifies that it was that order. Well?"
"That soldier, sir, was a known liar, with a known hatred to his officers."
"Yes. He repeated the order, word for word, as I sent it. How did that happen?"
"Sir, I do not know."
"The officer to whom I gave the order, and who, wrongly enough, transferred it to another messenger, swears that he gave it thus and so."
"Yes, general. He swears it."
A silence reigned in the fire-lit ring. The red light showed form and feature clearly. Jackson sitting on the log, his large hands resting on the sabre across his knees, was full within the glow. It beat even more strongly upon Cleave where he stood. "You believe," said Jackson, "that he swore falsely?"
"It is a question between your veracity and his?"