Buell would arrive
soon with his division and then seventy thousand strong they would
resume their march southward, crushing everything. Meanwhile it was
pleasant while they waited. They had an abundance of food. They were
well sheltered from the rains. The cold days were passing, nature was
bursting into its spring bloom, and the crisp fresh winds that blew from
the west and south were full of life and strength. It was a joy merely
to breathe.
One rainy day the three boys, who had met by chance, went into the
little church for shelter from a sudden spring rain. From the
shutterless window Dick saw Sergeant Whitley scurrying in search of a
refuge, and they called to him. He came gladly and took a seat in one
of the rough wooden pews of the little church of Shiloh. The three boys
had the greatest respect for the character and judgment of the sergeant,
and Dick asked him when he thought the army would march.
"They don't tell these things to sergeants," said Whitley.
"But you see and you know a lot about war."
"Well, you've noticed that the army ain't gettin' ready to march.
When General Buell gets here we'll have nigh onto seventy thousand men,
and seventy thousand men can't lift themselves up by their bootstraps
an' leave, all in a mornin'."
"But we don't have to hurry," said Pennington. "There's no Southern
army west of the Alleghanies that could stand before our seventy
thousand men for an hour.
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