‘You forget, sir, they imagined themselves driven in, and had all returned to the camp.’
‘Then why had this fellow not followed their example?’ inquired General Shields sharply.
‘I asked him the same question, sir, and his reply was that there he had been placed, and there he meant to stay.’
General Shields reflected. ‘I will go with you myself, captain,’ he said at last. ‘You have either been dealing with a very staunch soldier, or a most accomplished rogue. Pray Heaven you have not been fooled in this business.’
‘Oh, I should say not,’ answered Hopkins confidently. ‘The fellow was staunch, as you say, and a bit pig-headed—indeed you might call it thick-headed—but he was not fooling me.’
‘We shall see,’ answered the general drily. ‘It is an awkward business, very.—Major Wheeler,’ he added, turning to a staff officer, who stood close beside him, ‘order a corporal and ten men to follow me, fifty paces in the rear.—Now, Captain Hopkins.’
They walked rapidly across the fields, followed by the corporal and his men, and as they neared the river belt the general said: ‘You are sure you can go straight to the place?’
‘Certain, sir,’ was the reply. ‘See, here is where I broke cover on my way back. We have only to follow the trail I made as I ran.’
‘Humph!’ muttered the general as they pushed through the trees. ‘It is not a little odd that your pig-headed sentry does not challenge us.—Halt!’ he called to the corporal. ‘We will go on alone. March forward when I hail you.’
They went on for another twenty paces, and still remained unchallenged, which was not so very odd after all, considering that there was no one there to challenge them.