“I have twenty-three,” said Somers.
“Then yer kin whip us if yer be Yanks; for three of you uns can just lick one of we uns.”
“That’s good logic. Will you surrender, or fight?” demanded Somers.
“Let me count your men. I surrender,” he continued, after he had stood up, and counted the Union soldiers. “Here’s my shooter; fair play, even with Yanks.”
Leaving a guard of eight men with his prisoners when they were disarmed, Somers hastened forward to complete his mission.
CHAPTER VII
AN EXPEDITION IN FRONT
The affair in the wheat-field had been conducted very quietly, and apparently had not attracted the attention of any of the rebels in the vicinity. During the brief parley, the thunder of the battle had sounded on the right and left of the parties. The enemy were in force in their works, and it was believed that there were squads of pickets in every place of concealment which the ground afforded.