not wish them to become scattered among the mountains in pursuit of
detached guerrillas. Although the escape of both Slade and Skelly was
a great disappointment the victory nevertheless was complete. The two
leaders could not rally the brigand force again, because it had ceased
to exist. Nearly half, caught between the jaws of the Union vise, had
fallen, and most of the others were taken. Perhaps not more than fifty
had got away, and they would be lucky if they were not captured by the
mountaineers.

Dick's head was bound up hastily but skillfully by Sergeant Whitley and
Shepard. Slade's bullet had merely cut under the hair a little, and
the bandage stopped the flow of blood. The sting, too, left, or in his
triumph he did not notice it. His elation, in truth, was great, as
he had succeeded in carrying out the hardest part of a difficult and
delicate operation.

As he led his men back toward the valley, their prisoners driven before
them, he felt no weariness from his great exertions, and both his head
and his feet were light. At the rim of the valley Colonel Winchester met
him, shook his hand with great heartiness, and congratulated him on his
success, and Warner and Pennington, who were wholly without envy, added
their own praise.

"I think it will be Captain Mason before long," said Warner. "Lots of
boys under twenty are captains and some are colonels. Your right to
promotion is a mathematical certainty, and I can demonstrate it with
numerous formulae from the little algebra which even now is in the inside
pocket of my tunic."

"Don't draw the algebra!" exclaimed Pennington. "We take your word for
it, of course."

"I shouldn't want to be a captain," said Dick sincerely, "unless you
fellows became captains too."

Further talk was interrupted by the necessity for care in making the
steep descent into the valley, where the fires were blazing anew from
the fresh wood which the young soldiers in their triumph had thrown upon
the coals. Nor did Colonel Winchester and his senior officers make any
effort to restrain them, knowing that a little exultation was good for
youth, after deeds well done.

It was still snowing lazily, but the flames from a dozen big fires filled
the valley with light and warmth and illuminated the sullen faces of
the captives. They were a sinister lot, arrayed in faded Union or
Confederate uniforms, the refuse of highland and lowland, gathered
together for robbery and murder, un