ason, I'd advise that you
and Lieutenant Warner get as good a rest as you can, and as soon as you
can."

They ate a hearty supper and being told by Major Hertford that they
would not be wanted until the next day, they rolled themselves in heavy
blankets, and, pointing their feet toward a good fire, slept on the
ground. The night was very cold, because it was now the middle of
January, but the blankets and fire kept them warm.

Dick did not fall to sleep for some time, because he knew that he was
going into battle again in a few days. He was on the soil of his native
state now. He had already seen many Kentuckians in the army of Thomas
and he knew that they would be numerous, too, in that of Crittenden
and Zollicoffer. To some extent it would be a battle of brother against
brother. He was glad that Harry Kenton was in the east. He did not wish
in the height of battle to see his own cousin again on the opposite
side.

But when he did fall asleep his slumber was sound and restful, and he
was ready and eager the next morning, when the sergeant, Warner, and he
were detached for duty in a scouting party.

"The general has asked that you be sent owing to your experience in the
mountains," said Major Hertford, "and I have agreed gladly. I hope that
you're as glad as I am."

"We are, sir," said the two boys together. The sergeant stood quietly by
and smiled.

The detachment numbered a hundred men, all young, strong, and well
mounted. They were commanded by a young captain, John Markham, in whom
Dick recognized a distant relative. In those days nearly all Kentuckians
were more or less akin. The kinship was sufficient for Markham to keep
the two boys on either side of him with Sergeant Whitley just behind.
Markham lived in Frankfort and he had marched with Thomas from the
cantonments at Lebanon to their present camp.

"John," said Dick, addressing him familiarly and in right of kinship,
"you've been for months in our own county. You've surely heard something
from Pendleton?"

He could not disguise the anxiety in his voice, and the young captain
regarded him with sympathy.

"I had news from there about a month ago, Dick," he replied. "Your
mother was well then, as I have no doubt she is now. The place was not
troubled by guerillas who are hanging on the fringe of the armies here
in Eastern, or in Southern and Western Kentucky. The war for the present
at least has passed around Pendleton. Colonel Kenton was at Bowling
G