hills, and when some scouts came in that afternoon,
Chad, to his great joy, saw, mounted on a gaunt sorrel, none other than
his old school-master, Caleb Hazel, who, after shaking hands with both
Harry and Chad, pointed silently at a great, strange figure following
him on a splendid horse some fifty yards behind. The man wore a slouch
hat, tow linen breeches, home-made suspenders, a belt with two pistols,
and on his naked heels were two huge Texan spurs. Harry broke into a
laugh, and Chad's puzzled face cleared when the man grinned; it was
Yankee Jake Dillon, one of the giant twins. Chad looked at him
curiously; that blow on the head that his brother, Rebel Jerry, had
given him, had wrought a miracle. The lips no longer hung apart, but
were set firmly, and the eye was almost keen; the face was still rather
stupid, but not foolish--and it was still kind. Chad knew that,
somewhere in the Confederate lines, Rebel Jerry was looking for Jake,
as Yankee Jake, doubtless, was now looking for Jerry, and he began to
think that it might be well for Jerry if neither was ever found. Daws
Dillon, so he learned from Caleb Hazel and Jake, was already making his
name a watchword of terror along the border of Virginia and Tennessee,
and was prowling, like a wolf, now and then, along the edge of the
Bluegrass. Old Joel Turner had died of his wound, Rube had gone off to
the war and Mother Turner and Melissa were left at home, alone.

"Daws fit fust on one side and then on t'other," said Jake, and then he
smiled in a way that Chad understood; "an' sence you was down thar last
Daws don't seem to hanker much atter meddlin' with the Turners, though
the two women did have to run over into Virginny, once in a while.
Melissy," he added, "was a-goin' to marry Dave Hilton, so folks said;
and he reckoned they'd already hitched most likely, sence Chad thar--"

A flash from Chad's eyes stopped him, and Chad, seeing Harry's puzzled
face, turned away. He was glad that Melissa was going to marry--yes, he
was glad; and how he did pray that she might be happy!

Fighting Zollicoffer, only a few days later, Chad and Harry had their
baptism of fire, and strange battle orders they heard, that made them
smile even in the thick of the fight.

"Huddle up thar!" "Scatterout, now!" "Form a line of fight!" "Wait till
you see the shine of their eyes!"

"I see 'em!" shouted a private, and "bang" went his gun. That was the
way the fight opened. Chad saw Harry's eyes