"There were only a few dozen swords at Manasses," said De
Saussure. "Eighteen thousand, Mr. Davis puts the number in his
Richmond speech; and the Northern army had sixty thousand in
the field."
"A Richmond paper says forty thousand instead of eighteen,"
Mr. Marshall remarked.
"Mr. Russell, of the London Times, estimated Beauregard's force at sixty thousand," I said.
"He don't know!" said De Saussure.
"And Mr. Davis does not know," I added; "for the whole loss of cannon on the Northern side that day amounted to but seventeen. Mr. Davis may as well be wrong in one set of facts as in another. He said also that provisions enough were taken to feed an army of fifty thousand men for twelve months."
"Well, why not?" said Ransom, frowning.
"These gentlemen can tell you why not."
"Pretty heavy figures," said Mr. Marshall.
"Why are they not true, Miss Randolph?" Mr. de Saussure asked, bending as before a most deferential look upon me.
"And look here, - in what interest are you, Daisy?" my brother continued.