le, that "the unthinking
automaton, formed by routine and punishment, could no more stand before
the high-strung young soldier with brains and good blood, and some
practice and knowledge of warfare, than a tree could resist a stroke of
lightning." So that with Southern soldiers discipline came to mean "the
pride which made soldiers learn their duties rather than incur
disgrace; the subordination that came from self-respect and respect for
the man whom they thought worthy to command them."

Boots and saddles again at daybreak! By noon the column reached Green
River, over the Kentucky line, where Morgan, even on his way down to
join Johnston, had begun the operations which were to make him famous.
No picket duty that infantry could do as well, for Morgan's cavalry! He
wanted it kept out on the front or the flanks of an army, and as close
as possible upon the enemy. Right away, there had been thrilling times
for Dan in the Green River country--setting out at dark, chasing
countrymen in Federal pay or sympathy, prowling all night around and
among pickets and outposts; entrapping the unwary; taking a position on
the line of retreat at daybreak, and turning leisurely back to camp
with prisoners and information. How memories thronged! At this very
turn of the road, Dan remembered, they had their first brush with the
enemy. No plan of battle had been adopted, other than to hide on both
sides of the road and send their horses to the rear.

"I think we ought to charge 'em," said Georgie Forbes, Chad's old
enemy. Dan saw that his lip trembled, and, a moment later, Georgie,
muttering something, disappeared.

The Yankees had come on, and, discovering them, halted. Morgan himself
stepped out in the road and shot the officer riding at the head of the
column. His men fell back without returning the fire, deployed and
opened up. Dan recognized the very tree behind which he had stood, and
again he could almost hear Richard Hunt chuckling from behind another
close by.

"We would be in bad shape," said Richard Hunt, as the bullets whistled
high overhead, "if we were in the tops of these trees instead of behind
them." There had been no maneuvering, no command given among the
Confederates. Each man fought his own fight. In ten minutes a
horse-holder ran up from the rear, breathless, and announced that the
Yankees were flanking. Every man withdrew, straightway, after his own
fashion, and in his own time. One man was wounded and several we