s resounded with preparation.

When Colonel Winchester and the boy had saluted and retired from General
Grant's tent they saw the smoke pouring from the funnels of numerous
steamers in the Mississippi, and they saw thousands of troops encamped
in tents along the shores of both the Ohio and Mississippi. Heavy cannon
were drawn up on the wharves, and ammunition and supplies were being
transferred from hundreds of wagons to the steamers. It was evident to
any one that this expedition, whatever it might be, was to proceed by
water. It was a land of mighty rivers, close together, and a steamer
might go anywhere.

As Dick and Colonel Winchester, on whose staff he would now be, were
watching this active scene, a small steamer, coming down the Ohio, drew
in to a wharf, and a number of soldiers in faded blue disembarked. The
boy uttered a shout of joy.

"What is it, Dick?" asked Colonel Winchester.

"Why, sir, there's my former commander, Colonel Newcomb, and just behind
him is my comrade, Lieutenant George Warner of Vermont, and not far away
is Sergeant Whitley, late of the regular army, one of the best soldiers
in the world. Can I greet them, colonel?"

"Of course."

Dick rushed forward and saluted Colonel Newcomb, who grasped him warmly
by the hand.

"So you got safely through, my lad," he said. "Major Hertford, who came
down the Kentucky with his detachment and joined us at Carrollton at the
mouth of that river, told us of your mission. The major is bringing up
the rear of our column, but here are other friends of yours."

Dick the next moment was wringing the hand of the Vermont boy and was
receiving an equally powerful grip in return.

"I believed that we would meet you here," said Warner, "I calculated
that with your courage, skill and knowledge of the country the chances
were at least eighty per cent in favor of your getting through to Buell.
And if you did get through to Buell I knew that at least ninety per
cent of the circumstances would represent your desire and effort to come
here. That was a net percentage of seventy-two in favor of meeting you
here in Cairo, and the seventy-two per cent has prevailed, as it usually
does."

"Nothing is so bad that it can't be worse," said Sergeant Whitley, as
he too gave Dick's hand an iron grasp, "and I knew that when we lost you
we'd be pretty glad to see you again. Here you are safe an' sound, an'
here we are safe an' sound, a most satisfactory condition in war."