"That didn't amount to shucks. I reckon they stuck the cans of powder in between the 'butment and the bankin', and it only blowed out a lot of dirt, and knocked off a couple of stones from the top of the wall. They brought half-a-dozen bundles of light wood with them, pulled them to pieces, and then poured sperits turpentine over and all around 'em; for we found the cans on the platform. The fires were blazin' lively when we got there; but we poked the wood all off the bridge. We found some barrels o' water they kept on the platform to put out fires, and it didn't take long to make an end on't. That's all I know about it, major." "But what do you suppose has become of Dexter, Knox?" asked the father, concealing his feelings as much as he could. "The bridge-burners had gone when we got there, and I reckon they took Deck with 'em," replied the sergeant. "I suppose there is no other way to account for his absence. Lieutenant Belthorpe has been sent with half the first company to look out for the enemy in that direction," added the major. "Return to the bridge, Knox, and make sure that no further attempt is made to destroy it. The flag is still there, and I see that you have hoisted it again. If you need any assistance, haul down the flag as a signal to that effect." The sergeant hastened back to his post; and the major rode up to the cross-roads, just in time to meet the scouts who had been sent up the east road, coming down the hill at full speed. There were only two of them; but they had left two others at the hill road. The pair of riders who came in as the major reached the cross-roads were scouts; for they had been sent out with orders to go where they pleased in the hills to obtain all the information they could, especially in regard to the approach of any body of the enemy. They were not pickets nor skirmishers, who are sent out to act on fixed lines. "We have just come from the hill road," said one of the scouts, as he saluted the major. "A detachment of the Texans has just come down from the hills, and all four of us retreated behind a knoll to see where they were going." "And where were they going?" demanded the commander impatiently. "They kept on the hill road, going north." "How many of them were there?" "Forty-two, besides the officer in command, who had one arm in a sling, and his head bound up so that he could not wear his cap." "That must have been the troop that we engaged on the south road," said the major. "But how could they have got around to the point where you saw them?"