es, and
then he crawled cautiously out of the stream. His limbs were cold and
stiff, but his enforced exercise in crawling soon brought back their
flexibility. He passed between the pickets again, and, when he was
safely beyond their hearing, he rose and stretched himself again and
again.

The sergeant greatly preferred walking to crawling. Primitive men might
have crawled, but to do so made the modern man's knees uncommonly sore.
So he continued to stretch, to inhale great draughts of air, and to feel
proudly that he was a man who walked upright and not a bear or a pig
creeping on four legs through the bushes.

He reached his own army not long afterward, and, walking among the
thousands of sleeping forms, reached the tree under which Colonel
Winchester slept.

"Colonel," he said gently.

The colonel awoke instantly and sat up. Despite the dusk he recognized
Whitley at once.

"Well, sergeant?" he said.

"I've been clean over the ridge to the rebel camp. I reached the next
creek and lay on the heights just beyond it. I've seen with my own
eyes and I've heard with my own ears. They've only two divisions there,
though they're expectin' Polk to come up in the mornin' an' Bragg, too.
Colonel, I'm a good reckoner, as I've seen lots of war, and they ain't
got more `n fifteen thousand men there on the creek, while if we get all
our divisions together we can hit `em with nigh on to sixty thousand.
For God's sake, Colonel, can't we do it?"

"We ought to, and if I can do anything, we will. Sergeant, you've done a
great service at a great risk, and all of us owe you thanks. I shall see
General McCook at once."

The sergeant, forgetting that he was wet to the skin, stretched himself
in the dry grass near Dick and his comrades, and soon fell fast asleep,
while his clothes dried upon him. But Colonel Winchester went to General
McCook's tent and insisted upon awakening him. The general received him
eagerly and listened with close attention.

"This man Whitley is trustworthy?" he said.

"Absolutely. He has had years of experience on the plains, fighting
Sioux, Cheyennes and other Indians, and he has been with me through most
of the war so far. There is probably no more skillful scout, and none
with a clearer head and better judgment in either army."

"Then, Colonel, we owe him thanks, and you thanks for letting him go.
We'll certainly bring on a battle to-morrow, and we ought to have all
our army present. I shall send a m