rillas are camped now?" asked Colonel
Winchester.

"When we last heard uv 'em they wuz in Burton's Cove," replied the
mountaineer, "though uv course they may hev moved sence then. Still,
the snow may hev held 'em. It's a-layin' right deep on the mountings,
an' even the gorillers ain't so anxious to plough thar way through it."

"How long will it take us to reach Burton's Cove?"

"It's jest ez the weather sez, colonel. Ef the snow holds off we might
make it tomorrow afore dark, but ef the snow makes up its mind to come
tumblin' down ag'in, it's the day after that, fur shore."

"At any rate, another fall of snow is no harder for us than it is for
them," said the colonel, who showed the spirit of a true leader. "Now,
Mr. Reed, do you think we can find anybody on this road who will tell us
where the band has gone?"

"It ain't much uv a road an' thar ain't many people to ride on it in the
best uv times, so I reckon our chance uv meetin' a traveler who knows
much is jest about ez good as our chance uv findin' a peck uv gold in the
next snowdrift."

"Which means there's no chance at all."

"I reckon that's 'bout the size uv it. But, colonel, we don't hev to
look to the road fur the word."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll turn our eyes upward, to the mounting heights. Some uv us who
are jest bound to save the Union are settin' up on top uv high ridges,
whar that p'ison band can't go, waitin' to tell us whar _we_ ought to go.
They've got some home-made flags, an' they'll wave 'em to me."

"Mr. Reed, you're a man of foresight and perception."

"Foresight? I know what that is. It's the opposite uv hindsight,
but I ain't made the acquaintance uv perception."

"Perception is what you see after you think, and I know that you're a man
who thinks."

"Thank you, colonel, but I reckon that in sech a war ez this a man hez
jest got to set right plum' down, an' think sometimes. It's naterally
forced upon him. Them that starts a war mebbe don't do much thinkin',
but them that fights it hev to do a power uv it."

"Your logic is sound, Mr. Reed."

"I hev a pow'ful good eye, colonel, an' I think I see a man on top uv
that high ridge to the right. But my eye ain't ez good ez your glasses,
an' would you min' takin' a look through 'em? Foller a line from that
little bunch of cedars to the crest."

"Yes, it's a man. I can see him quite plainly. He has a big, gray shawl
like your own, wrapped around his shoulders. Perh