d so well together.

Harry always kept on the far side of the fields, and as the fences were
of rails with stakes and riders he was able by bending very low in the
saddle to keep hidden behind them. Nevertheless it was delicate work. He
was sure that if seen he could escape to the forest through the speed
of his horse. But he did not want to be driven off. He wished to follow
that troop to its ultimate destination.

Another mile or two and the Union force bore away to the right, entering
the forest and following a road, where the men rode in files, six
abreast. They did not make much noise, beyond the steady beating of the
hoofs, but they did not seem to seek concealment. Harry made the obvious
deduction that they thought themselves too far beyond the range of the
Southern scouts to be noticed. He felt a thrill of satisfaction, because
he was there and he had seen them.

He rode in the forest parallel with the troop and at a distance of about
four hundred yards. There was scattered undergrowth, enough to hide
him, but not enough to conceal those three hundred men who rode in close
files along a well-used road.

Harry soon saw the forest thinning ahead of him and then the trumpet
sang its mellow, golden note again. From a point perhaps a mile ahead
came a reply, also the musical call of the trumpet. Not an echo, but
the voice of a second trumpet, and now Harry knew that another force was
coming to join the first. All his pulses began to beat hard, not
with nervousness, but with intense eagerness to know what was afoot.
Evidently it must be something of importance or strong bodies of Union
cavalry would not be meeting in the woods in this manner.

After the reply neither trumpet sounded again, and the troop that Harry
was following stopped while yet in the woods. He rode his horse behind a
tall and dense clump of bushes, where, well hidden, he could yet see all
that might happen, and waited.

He heard in a few minutes the beat of many hoofs upon the hard road,
advancing with the precision and regularity of trained cavalry. He saw
the head of a column emerge upon the road and an officer ride forward
to meet the commander of the first troop. They exchanged a few words and
then the united force rode southward through the open woods, with the
watchful lad always hanging on their rear.

Harry judged that the new troop numbered about five hundred men, and
eight hundred cavalry would not march on any mere scouting expedit