But his patience was great, and still he waited, only his head showing above the water, and it hidden in the black gloom of the bank's shadows.
His reward came by-and-by.

A number of cavalrymen led their horses down to the creek to drink, and while the horses drank and then blew the water away from their noses, the men talked at some length, enabling the sergeant to pick up important scraps of information.
He learned that the heights were occupied by Hardee with two divisions.
It was the same Hardee, the famous tactician who had been one of the Southern generals at Shiloh.

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.