CHAPTER XXXIX. A JOKE ON THE SPIES—WONDERFUL SHELLS—THE ARMY REACHES CLARENDON.
A flag of truce came during the evening, but was not admitted. The bearers were informed that the dead were being buried by our own men, and the wounded receiving every attention. The next morning another flag of truce came, and as there was no good reason for it, the general naturally suspected that it was a pretext to learn something about our forces and position.
He admitted the bearers of the flag, and kept them inside his lines all day, so that anything they might learn by the use of their eyes would not be of any advantage to their side. The suspicion that the burial of the dead and the care of the wounded was not the real cause of the visit was strengthened by the inquisitiveness of some of the men, and the fact that one of them was discovered making notes of certain conversations when he thought he was not observed.
Harry was the discoverer of this note-taking, and reported the circumstance to General Vandever.
“If that's what they're after,” remarked the general, “we 'll give'em all they want.”
So he had the visitors transferred from the tent where they were at the time, and placed in a room in one of the outbuildings not far away. There was another room in the same building, and the partition between the two was full of cracks, so that conversation could be heard with ease from one room to the other.
The general instructed Harry as to what he was to do, and then he went with his adjutant and two or three other officers to the room adjoining the one where the truce-bearers were held.
“Here we can talk without being disturbed,” said the general. “My orderly knows where I am, and if I'm wanted he 'll call me.”
Everything was perfectly still in the adjoining room, and it was evident that the men there were using their ears to the best advantage.
“Now,” said the general, “to begin with, I suppose you don't understand why we're marching south and along the White river.”