The creek, of which he had told, was running bankful of icy water,
but their horses swam it and they kept straight ahead until Carpenter,
who was a little in advance, held up a warning hand.
Captain Markham ordered his whole troop to stop and keep as quiet as
possible. Then he, Dick, Warner, Sergeant Whitley and Carpenter rode
slowly forward. Before they had gone many yards Dick heard the heavy
clank of metal, the cracking of whips, the swearing of men, and the
sound of horses' feet splashing in the mud. He knew by the amount and
variety of the noises that a great force was passing.
They advanced a little further and reined into a clump of bushes which
despite their lack of leaves were dense enough to shelter them from
observation. As the bushes grew on a hillock they had a downward and
good look into the road, which was fairly packed with men in the gray of
the Confederate army, some on horseback, but mostly afoot, their cannon,
ammunition and supply wagons sinking almost to the hub in the mud.
As far as Dick could see the gray columns extended.
"There must be six or seven thousand men here," he said to Captain
Markham.
"Undoubtedly," replied Markham, "this is the main Confederate army
advancing to attack ours, but the badness of the roads operates against
the offense. We shall reach General Thomas with the word that they are
coming long before they are there."
They watched the marching army for a half hour longer in order to be
sure of everything, and then turning they rode as fast as they could
toward Thomas, elated at their success.
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