down a tree by keepin' on cuttin' out chips with an
axe, an' you smash up an army by hittin' an' hittin' an' keepin' on
hittin'. We ought to charge right out of our works an' jump on the
Yankees with all our stren'th."

The two walked on, followed by the soldiers who had come with them, and
Dick heard no more. But he was too cautious to stir for a long while.
He lay there until the cold began to make its way through his boots and
heavy overcoat. Then he rose carefully, brushed off the snow, and began
his retreat toward the Union lines. Four or five hundred yards further
on and he met Colonel Winchester and his own comrades come back to
search for him. They welcomed him joyfully.

"We did not miss you until we were nearly to our own pickets," said the
colonel. "Then we concluded that you had fallen and had been taken
by the enemy, but we intended to see if we could find you. We've been
hovering about here for some time."

Dick told what he had seen and heard, and the colonel considered it of
much importance.

"I judge from what you heard that they will attack us," he said.
"Buckner and Forrest will be strongly for it, and they're likely to have
their way. We must report at once to General Grant."

The Southern attack had been planned for the next morning, but it did
not come then. Pillow, for reasons unknown, decided to delay another
day, and his fiery subordinates could do nothing but chafe and wait.
Dick spent most of the day carrying orders for his chief, and the
continuous action steadied his nerves.

As he passed from point to point he saw that the Union army itself
was far from ready. It was a difficult task to get twenty thousand
raw farmer youths in proper position. They moved about often without
cohesion and sometimes without understanding their orders. Great
gaps remained in the line, and a daring and skilful foe might cut the
besieging force asunder.

But Grant had put his heavy guns in place, and throughout the day he
maintained a slow but steady fire upon the fort. Great shells and solid
shot curved and fell upon Donelson. Grant did not know what damage they
were doing, but he shrewdly calculated that they would unsteady the
nerves of the raw troops within. These farmer boys, as they heard the
unceasing menace of the big guns, would double the numbers of their foe,
and attribute to him an unrelaxing energy.

Thus another gray day of winter wore away, and the two forces drew a
little nearer to each