noon
Polk was expected , but he had not yet come up . Bragg , too , would be there . The brave sergeant 's heart thumped as he listened . He gathered that Polk , perhaps , could not arrive before noon , and here was a brilliant chance to destroy a large part of the Southern army early in the morning . He waited until all the cavalrymen had gone away with their horses , and then he crawled cautiously out of the stream . His limbs were cold and stiff , but his enforced exercise in crawling soon brought back their flexibility . He passed between the pickets again , and , when he was safely beyond their hearing , he rose and stretched himself again and again .