nd a doubt. Violent talk is always proof of it. Better put him to
bed. Spread his two blankets before the fire, and he can sleep there,
while every particle of cold and stiffness is being roasted out of him."

"You boys are very good to me," said Dick gratefully.

"It's done merely in the hope that your gratitude will keep you from
giving us the licking you promised," said Pennington.

Then they left him and Dick slept soundly until he was awakened the next
day by Warner. The fire was out, the rain had ceased long since and the
sun was shining brilliantly.

"Hop up, Dick," said Warner briskly. "Breakfast's ready. Owing to your
wound we let you sleep until the last moment. Come now, take the foaming
coffee and the luscious bacon, and we'll be off, leaving Bellevue again
to its masters, if they will come and claim it."

"Has anything happened in the night?"

"Nothing since you ran your face against a pile driver, but Sergeant
Daniel Whitley, who reads the signs of earth and air and wood and water,
thinks that something is going to happen."

"Is it Forrest?"

"Don't know, but it's somebody or something. As soon as we can eat our
luxurious breakfasts we mean to mount and ride hard toward Grant. We're
scouts, but according to Whitley the scouts are scouted, and this is a
bad country to be trapped in."

Dick was so strong and his blood was so pure that he felt his wounds
but little now. The cuts and bruises were healing fast and he ate with a
keen appetite. He heard then of the signs that Whitley had seen. He had
found two broad trails, one three miles from the house, and the other
about four miles. Each indicated the passage of several hundred men, but
he had no way of knowing whether they belonged to the same force. They
were bound to be Confederate cavalry as Colonel Winchester's regiment
was known to be the only Union force in that section.

Dick knew their position to be dangerous. Colonel Winchester had done
his duty in discovering that Forrest and Wheeler were raiding through
Mississippi, and that a heavy force was gathering in the rear of Grant,
who intended the siege of Vicksburg. It behooved him now to reach Grant
as soon as he could with his news.

Refreshed and watchful, the regiment rode away from Bellevue. Dick
looked back at the broad roof and the great piazzas, and then he thought
of young Woodville with a certain sympathy. They had fought a good fight
against each other, and he hoped they would me