“You b’lieve de half er dat,” spoke up the free nigger. “Mistiss been savin’ her cotton craps, an’ ef she got one bale she got two hundred.”
The captain figured a moment. “They will bring more than a hundred thousand dollars.”
“I have me two arrums,” said O’Halloran.
“I’ve got a mighty fine pack of fox-hounds,” remarked Kilpatrick with real pride.
There was a pause in the conversation. In the distance could be heard the shouting of the Union soldiers and the band with its “Yankee Doodle, howd’y-do?” Suddenly Clopton turned to Captain Fambrough:
“I want to ask you how many troops have you got over there—fighting men?”
The captain laughed. Then he put his hand to his mouth and said in a stage whisper:
“Five companies.”
“Well, dang my hide!” exclaimed Kilpatrick.
“What is your fighting force?” Captain Fambrough asked.