"I am ordered to move without any unnecessary delay, and I shall march to-morrow morning. I expect a company of Union Home Guards here by to-morrow; and I shall be obliged to leave Captain Truman and half his company; but as soon as he is relieved by the infantry company, he will rejoin the squadron."
"We have been unable to make out that there is any Confederate force in this vicinity, with the exception of the Rangers who are just now struggling with the mud in the bog meadow near us," said Captain Gordon.
"How many of them are there?" asked the major.
"I am sure I don't know," replied the captain.
"I counted eighty-one of them, including Captain Dingfield; but some few of them had escaped through the mud to the hill on the other side of the bog," said Deck, who was always doing some useful work when he found a chance.
"As many as that; perhaps half a company is not force enough to leave with you, Captain Truman," suggested the major.
"Quite enough, Major Lyon; for we should have to act mainly on the defensive," replied the captain of the second company. "My men have fought the Texans once to-day; and though they are brave and daring fellows, they are not such terrible bugbears as they have been represented to be. But infantry can guard the bridge better than cavalry."
"The infantry will probably relieve you by to-morrow. If the Texans, with their bridge-burners, were out of the way, I need leave no force," added the major.
"But we can put them out of the way very easily," suggested Captain Gordon.