Just at that moment Sergeant Whitley came up and saluted.
"What is it, sergeant?" asked the Colonel.
"I have been up the road some distance, sir, and I came to another road
that crossed it. The second road has been cut by hoofs of eight or nine
hundred horses, and I am sure, sir, that the tracks are not a day old."
Colonel Winchester looked grave. He knew that he was deep in the
country of the enemy and he began to put together what Dick had seen
and what the sergeant had seen. But the thought of withdrawing did not
occur to his brave soul. He had been sent on an errand by General Grant
and he meant to do it. But he changed his plans for the night. He had
intended to keep only one man in ten on watch. Instead, he kept half,
and Sergeant Whitley, veteran of Indian wars, murmured words of approval
under his breath.
Whitley and Pennington were in the early watch. Dick and Warner were to
come on later. The colonel spoke as if he would keep watch all night.
All the horses were tethered carefully inside the ring of pickets.
"It doesn't need any mathematical calculation," said Warner, "to tell
that the colonel expects trouble of some kind tonight. What its nature
is, I don't know, but I mean to go to sleep, nevertheless. I have
already seen so much of hardship and war that the mere thought of danger
does not trouble me. I took a fort on the Tennessee, I took a much
larger one on the Cumberland, first defeating the enemy's army in a big
battle, and now I am preparing to march on Nashville.
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