taunch Southern sympathizers. That is why they don't open to us."

"Beat on the door with the hilt of your sword, sergeant," said the
colonel to Whitley. "They're bound to answer in time."

The sergeant beat steadily and insistently. Yet he was forced to
continue it five or six minutes before it was thrown open. Then a tall
old woman with a dignified, stern face and white hair, drawn back from
high brows, stood before them. But Dick's quick eyes saw in the dusk of
the room behind her a girl of seventeen or eighteen.

"What do you want?" asked the woman in a tone of ice. "I see that you
are Yankee soldiers, and if you intend to rob the house there is no one
here to oppose you. Its sole occupants are myself, my granddaughter, and
two colored women, our servants. But I tell you, before you begin, that
all our silver has been shipped to Nashville."

Colonel Winchester flushed a deep crimson, and bit his lips savagely.

"Madame," he said, "we are not robbers and plunderers. These are regular
soldiers belonging to General Grant's army."

"Does it make any difference? Your armies come to ravage and destroy the
South."

Colonel Winchester flushed again but, remembering his self-control, he
said politely:

"Madame, I hope that our actions will prove to you that we have been
maligned. We have not come here to rob you or disturb you in any manner.
We merely wished to inquire of you if you had seen any other Southern
armed forces in this vicinity."

"And do you think, sir," she replied in the same uncompromising tones,
"if I had seen them that I would tell you anything about it?"

"No, Madame," replied the Colonel bowing, "whatever I may have thought
before I entered your portico I do not think so now."

"Then it gives me pleasure to bid you good evening, sir," she said, and
shut the door in his face.

Colonel Winchester laughed rather sorely.

"She had rather the better of me," he said, "but we can't make war on
women. Come on, lads, we'll ride ahead, and camp under the trees. It's
easy to obtain plenty of fuel for fires."

"The darkness is coming fast," said Dick, "and it is going to be very
cold, as usual."

In a half hour the day was fully gone, and, as he had foretold, the
night was sharp with chill, setting every man to shivering. They turned
aside into an oak grove and pitched their camp. It was never hard to
obtain fuel, as the whole area of the great civil war was largely in
forest, and the soldiers dragg