"Yes, he is," cried Ned. "But what do you know about him?"
"Not much, that's a fact; but we met Rodney once when he wasn't at all glad to see us. If we had been a different lot we might have put him and his comrade to some trouble, just to show what vigilant scouts we were."
"Do you mean to tell me that you belonged to the squad that captured Rodney and Dick Graham a few days ago?"
"We're two of them, and the others are in the woods, if our pursuers haven't found and gobbled them up. But I don't think they have, or we'd have heard the sounds of the fight."
"Well, you'll not go away without seeing Rodney and Dick, will you?"
"That depends," answered the soldier, with a smile. "We are not on a pleasure trip and can't say beforehand just what we will do. The first thing for us to find out in the morning is whether or not our pursuers have placed themselves between us and the river. If they have, it might be well for us to remain in hiding a few hours, and give them time to get out of our road. But if they are still behind us, we ought to push on without loss of time. I don't suppose those two rebs would go back on us if they knew where we were. They said they wouldn't."
"Rodney and Dick!" exclaimed Ned indignantly. "While they were in the army they fought you Yanks the best they knew how; but I know what I am talking about when I say that you haven't better friends in your regiment or company than Rodney Gray and Dick Graham."
"I believe it," said the soldier earnestly. "We are not afraid to trust any man who met us in open battle; but the Home Guards we _are_ afraid of."
"You'd better be," exclaimed Ned. "The most of them are sneaks and cowards, and disgrace the uniform they wear."
"I believe that, too; and now let me tell you why we are afraid of them. When we met your two friends Gray and Graham, we belonged to a squad of twenty men who were under orders to scour the country between the river and Camp Pinckney, so that we could give timely notice to General Williams if we discovered any considerable body of Confederates in that direction. The general has information that the enemy is going to try to open the river again, and, of course, he means to be ready for any rebs who come this way. After we told Rodney and his chum to go home and see their mammies, we rejoined our command, which we found about three miles down the road, and reported that we hadn't seen any graybacks and no signs of any; and the very next day we were surprised and routed by a mixed body of veterans and Home Guards which some good rebel had put on our track. We gave them a lively fight, but they were too many for us, and those of us who were not killed or captured were scattered far and wide.