I could see the glitter of them in the sun.
Straight across the grass from the line of dismounted cavalry an officer rode, galloping through the dust of the pike, and trotting up the incline until he reached this distant group.

I watched curiously as he pointed toward the house, and the others turned and looked.

I could dimly distinguish features, and realized the meaning of some of their gestures.

Then the cavalry-man turned his horse, and came trotting back.
But now he rode directly up the gravelled driveway to the front of the house, a white rag flapping from the point of his uplifted sword.

Thirty feet away he pulled up his horse, his eyes searching the house, and I stepped out on the porch roof.