ly."

But the time for sitting down had not yet come. The confidence of the
soldiers in their leader was justified continually. He advanced rapidly
toward Vicksburg, and in pursuit of Pemberton's defeated men. The
victory at Champion Hill had been so complete that the Southern army
was broken into detached fragments, and the Southern generals were now
having the greatest difficulty in getting them together again.

Grant, with his loyal subordinate, Sherman, continued to push upon the
enemy with the greatest vigor. Sherman had not believed in the success
of the campaign, had even filed his written protest, but when Grant
insisted he had cooperated with skill and energy. He and Grant stood
together on a hill looking toward the future field of conflict, and he
told Grant now that he expected continued success.

It was the fortune of the young officers of the Winchester regiment
sitting near on their horses to see the two generals who were in such
earnest consultation, and who examined the whole circle of the country
so long and so carefully through powerful glasses.

The effects of the victory deep in the South were growing hourly in
Dick's mind, and the two figures standing there on the hill were full
of significance to him. He had a premonition that they were the men more
than any others who would achieve the success of the Union, if it were
achieved at all. They had dismounted and stood side by side, the figure
of Grant short, thick and sturdy, that of Sherman, taller and more
slender. They spoke only at intervals, and few words then, but nothing
in the country about them escaped their attention.

Dick had glasses of his own, and he, too, began to look. He saw a region
much wooded and cut by deep streams. Before them lay the sluggish waters
of Chickasaw Bayou, where Sherman had sustained a severe defeat at an
earlier time, and farther away flowed the deep, muddy Yazoo.

"See the smoke, George, rising above that line of trees along the
river?" said Dick.

"Yes, Dick," replied Warner, "and I notice that the smoke rises in
puffs."

"It has a right to go up that way, because it's expelled violently from
the smoke-stacks of steamers. And those steamers are ours, George, our
warships. Our navy in this war hasn't much chance to do the spectacular,
but we can never give it enough credit."

"That's right, Dick. It keeps the enemy surrounded and cuts off his
supplies, while our army fights him on land. Whatever happens