The warning had been a stern one.
Evidently the sharpshooters who lay in the thickets on the Union side of
the creek were of the first quality.

"There's considerable moonlight," whispered Sherburne, "and you mustn't
expose an inch of your face. I take it that we have Custer's cavalry
over there, mixed with a lot of scouts and skirmishers from the Northwest,
Michigan and Wisconsin, most likely. They're the boys who can use the
rifles in the woods. Had to do it before they came here, and they're a
bad lot to go up against."

"It's a pretty heavy fire for a mere scouting party. If they want to
discover our location they can do it without wasting so much powder and
lead."

"I think it's more than a scout. They must have discovered long since
just where we are. I imagine they mean to shake our nerve by constant
buzzing and stinging. I fancy that Meade and his generals after deciding
not to pursue us have changed their minds, perhaps under pressure from
Washington, and mean to cut us off if they can."

"A little late."

"But not too late. We're still in the enemy's country. The whole
population is dead against us, and we can't make a move that isn't known
within an hour to the Union leaders. I tell you, Harry, that if we
didn't have a Lee to lead I'd be afraid that we'd never get out of
Pennsylvania."

"But we have a Lee and the question is settled. What a volley that was!
Didn't you feel the twigs and leaves falling on your face?"

"Yes, it went directly over our heads. It's a good thing we're lying so
close. Perhaps they intend to force a passage of the creek and stampede
at least a portion of our camp."

"And you're here to prevent it."

"I am. They can't cross that creek in face of our fire. We're good
night-hawks. Every boy in the South knows the night and the woods,
and here in the bush we're something like Indians."

"I'm the descendant of a famous Indian fighter myself," said Harry.
And there, surrounded by deep gloom and danger, the spirit of his mighty
ancestor, the great Henry Ware, descended upon him once more. An orderly
had taken their horses to the rear, where they would be out of range of
the bullets, and, as they crouched low in the bushes, Sherburne looked
curiously at him.

Harry's face as he turned from the soldier to the Indian fighter of old
had changed. To Sherburne's fascinated gaze the eyes seemed amazingly
vivid and bright, like those of one who has learned to see in