make trouble for small detachments.

It must have been nearly the end of the afternoon. We had certainly
traversed several miles, and were then moving almost directly south
upon a well-defined pike, the name of which I never knew. All the party
were travelling close together, when the scout, who throughout the day
had been kept a few hundred yards in advance, came back toward us on a
run, his hand flung up in an urgent warning to halt.

"What is it, Steele?" Brennan questioned, spurring forward to meet him.
"Come, speak up, man!"

"A squad of cavalry has just swung onto the pike, sir, from the dirt
road that leads toward the White Briar," was the soldier's panting
reply. "And I could get a glimpse through the trees down the valley,
and there's a heavy infantry column just behind them. They're Rebs,
sir, or I don't know them."

"Rebs?" with an incredulous laugh. "Why, man, we've got the only Reb
here who is east of the Briar."

"Well," returned the scout, sullenly, "they're coming from the west,
and I know they ain't our fellows."

He was too old a soldier to have his judgment doubted, and he was
evidently convinced. Brennan glanced quickly about. However he may have
sneered at the report, he was not rash enough to chance so grave a
mistake.

"Get back into those rocks there on the right," he commanded sharply.