u set a store by that horse."

"I wouldn't lose him for a thousand dollars,--no, not for five times
that amount," replied the young major, earnestly.

And Deck meant what he said. To him the loss of faithful Ceph meant more
than any of his comrades in arms could understand. He wondered if he
should ever set eyes on the noble animal again.

CHAPTER XXI

CROSSING THE TENNESSEE RIVER

Twenty-four hours after the affair described in the last chapter, the
Riverlawns rode into Huntsville, bringing with them their last prisoners
and their horses. They found that the larger portion of the Union
cavalry had already arrived, and prisoners, horses, and negroes ready to
flee to the North, were numerous.

"You have done remarkably well, Major Lyon," said the general in
command, on receiving Deck's report. "I doubt if any of our forces have
done better," and with this compliment the youthful commander was
dismissed.

The stop in Huntsville did not last long, some of the cavalry leaving on
the same night that the Riverlawns came in. By a pre-arranged plan the
Union forces spread out into a large semicircle when on their way
northward, and they came home with about three hundred prisoners,
sixteen hundred horses and mules, and a thousand head of cattle, sheep,
and pigs. On the return, the Riverlawns encountered but one body of the
enemy, less than fifteen in number, and these fled at the first sight of
the Unionists. About six hundred negroes joined the army on its
northward movement, and thus escaped to the free States, much to their
own satisfaction.

General Bragg, accompanied by Wheeler's cavalry force, had escaped to
Chattanooga, and it was thought by some that General Rosecrans ought to
pursue the enemy without delay. But there were great difficulties in the
way. The enemy had torn up the railroads, the Army of the Cumberland,
despite such raids as the one just mentioned, was short of rations and
forage, and the commanding general felt that he must have support for
his flanks ere braving the river and the mountain gaps, which he felt
the Confederates would hold as long as possible.

To thoroughly understand the situation, the reader must remember that
between the Union army and Chattanooga lay the lofty Cumberland
Mountains, washed on either side by the waters of the Elk and the
Tennessee rivers. To the northward the mountains were rugged and but
poorly wooded; to the southward they were partly broken up by the