"Captain Ransome, it is not permitted to you to know _anything_. It is
sufficient that you obey my order--which permit me to repeat. If you
perceive any movement of troops in your front you are to open fire, and
if attacked hold this position as long as you can. Do I make myself
understood, sir?"
"Nothing could be plainer. Lieutenant Price,"--this to an officer of his
own battery, who had ridden up in time to hear the order--"the general's
meaning is clear, is it not?"
"Perfectly."
The lieutenant passed on to his post. For a moment General Cameron and
the commander of the battery sat in their saddles, looking at each other
in silence. There was no more to say; apparently too much had already
been said. Then the superior officer nodded coldly and turned his horse
to ride away. The artillerist saluted slowly, gravely, and with extreme
formality. One acquainted with the niceties of military etiquette would
have said that by his manner he attested a sense of the rebuke that he
had incurred. It is one of the important uses of civility to signify
resentment.
When the general had joined his staff and escort, awaiting him at a
little distance, the whole cavalcade moved off toward the right of the
guns and vanished in the fog. Captain Ransome was alone, silent,
motionless as an equestrian statue. The gray fog, thickening every
moment, closed in about him like a visible doom.