were digging the caves, and then fortune which had
been smiling upon him turned its face the other way. A small man in
butternut and an enormous felt hat passed near. He did not see Dick,
but his very presence gave the lad a shiver. He believed afterward that
before he saw him he had felt the proximity of Slade.

The man, carrying a rifle, was hurrying toward the center of the town,
and Dick, after one long look, hurried at equal speed the other way. He
knew that Slade, if he saw him, would recognize him at once. Dusk and a
muddy uniform would not protect him.

It was his idea now to go down through the ravines and make another
trial toward the South. He saw ahead of him a line of intrenchments,
which he was resolved to pass in some fashion, but the face of fortune
was still away from him. The unknown officers who at any time might ask
too many questions appeared.

A captain, a sunbrowned, alert man, stopped him at the edge of the
bushes which clothed the slopes of the ravine.

"Your regiment?" he asked sharply.

"Tennessee regiment, sir," replied Dick, afraid to mention any number,
since this officer might be a Tennesseean himself, and would want
further identification. But the man was not to be put off--Dick judged
from his uniform that he was a colonel--and demanded sharply his
regiment's number and his business.

The lad mumbled something under his breath, hopeful that he would pass
on, but the officer stepped forward, looked at him closely and then
suddenly turned back the collar of his army jacket, disclosing a bit of
the under side yet blue.

"Thunderation, a Yankee spy!" he exclaimed.

Dick always believed that his life was due to a sudden and violent
impulse, or rather a convulsive jerk, because he had no time to think.
He threw off the officer's hand, dashed his fist into his face, and,
without waiting to see the effect, ran headlong among the bushes down
the side of the ravine. He heard a shouting behind him, the reports of
several shots, the rapid tread of feet, and he knew that the man-hunt
was on.

He had all the instincts of the hunted to seek cover, and the night was
his friend. But few lights glimmered in that portion of Vicksburg, and
in many parts of the ravine the bushes were thick. He darted down the
slope at great speed, then turned and ran along its side, still keeping
well under cover. Where the shadows were darkest and the bushes thickest
he paused panting.

He heard his pursuers c