that it was Grant, the heroic Thomas, and the great
fighting powers of the western men, used to all the roughness of life
out-of-doors and on the border.

They turned their course toward the Mississippi and that afternoon they
met a Union scout who told them that Grant, now in the very heart of the
far South, was gathering his forces for a daring attack upon Grand
Gulf, a Confederate fortress on the Mississippi. In the North and at
Washington his venture was regarded with alarm. There was a telegram
to him to stop, but it was sent too late. He had disappeared in the
Southern wilderness.

But Dick understood. He had both knowledge and intuition. Colonel
Winchester on his long and daring scout had learned that the Confederate
forces in the South were scattered and their leaders in doubt. Grant,
taking a daring offensive and hiding his movements, had put them on the
defensive, and there were so many points to defend that they did not
know which to choose. Joe Johnston, just recovered from his wound at
Fair Oaks the year before, and a general of the first rank, was coming,
but he was not yet here.

Meanwhile Pemberton held the chief command, but he seemed to lack energy
and decision. There were forces under other generals scattered along the
river, including eight thousand commanded by Bowen, who held Grand Gulf,
but concert of action did not exist among them.

This knowledge was not Dick's alone. It extended to every man in
the regiment, and when the colonel urged them to greater speed they
responded gladly.

"If we don't ride faster," he said, "we won't be up in time for the
taking of Grand Gulf."

No greater spur was needed and the Winchester regiment went forward as
fast as horses could carry them.

"I take it that Grant means to scoop in the Johnnies in detail," said
Warner.

"It seems so," said Pennington. "This is a big country down here, and we
can fight one Confederate army while another is mired up a hundred miles
away.

"That's General Grant's plan. He doesn't look like any hero of romance,
but he acts like one. He plunges into the middle of the enemy, and if he
gets licked he's up and at 'em again right away."

Night closed in, and they stopped at an abandoned plantation--it seemed
to Dick that the houses were abandoned everywhere--where they spent the
night. The troopers would have willingly pushed on through the darkness,
but the horses were so near exhaustion that another hour or two would
have