"Forty-four men, as I estimated them, besides the officers."
"We outnumber them, then. But I am ordered to report at the planter's house," said the officer, who appeared to be musing upon the situation.
He was not an experienced officer; and his mind was charged with the idea that the soldier must obey his superior officer, though his intellect was broad enough, and he had read in his military books that one in command of a force must use judgment and discretion. This was what he was thinking of when he alluded to his orders, which he would not have done if the boys had not been the sons of the major, and he was on very intimate terms with them.
"But, if you obey your orders, the bridge will be destroyed, and the"—
"I don't intend to obey them; I am not quite blind, my boy," interposed Captain Truman, with a smile on his face. "Less than fifty men, you say, Artie. I made up my mind, from what Deck said, that if there was a force approaching from that direction, the enemy were divided, and were coming to the bridge by the two roads."
"There must be more than forty-four men in the whole company, besides the officers," added Artie.
"No doubt of it," replied the captain, looking about him.
Then he called for Lieutenant Gadbury, and sent him, with thirty men, back to the field where they had been concealed to await the attack of the Home Guards on the bridge. Then he ordered the rest of the men, about forty in number, to unsling their carbines, and formed them across the south road. In a somewhat longer time than Artie had predicted, the head of the enemy's column, arrived at the top of the hill, where they halted.
A couple of officers appeared in front of the troop, and seemed to be surveying the situation. They could see the railroad bridge, and that it had not been destroyed by another division of the Confederates. But they could not see the camp that had been established at the side of the structure, for it was on much lower ground. They could also see the cavalry of Captain Truman, stationed about six feet apart, so that they extended both ways on the crossing along the south road.