"As Joseph was a-walking,
He heard the angels sing"--

CHAPTER XII

"THE BATH AND ROMNEY TRIP"

Richard Cleave and his horse, two tired wights, turned a corner in the
wood and came with suddenness upon a vedette, posted beneath a beech
tree. The vedette brought his short rifle to bear upon the apparition.
"Halt! Halt, you in blue! Halt, I say, or I'll blow your head off."

Down an aisle of the woods, deep in russet leaves, appeared a grey
figure. "Hello, Company F! It's all right! It's all right! It's Captain
Cleave, 65th Virginia. Special service." Musket in hand, Allan came at a
run through the slanting sunshine of the forest. "It's all right,
Cuninghame--Colonel Ashby will understand."

"Here," said the vedette, "is Colonel Ashby now."

From another direction, out of the filmy and amethyst haze that closed
each forest vista, came a milk-white horse, stepping high over the
fallen leaves. The rider, not tall, black-bearded, with a pale, handsome
face, sat like a study for some great sculptor's equestrian masterpiece.
In a land where all rode well, his was superb horsemanship. The cape of
his grey coat was lined with scarlet, his soft wide hat had a black
plume; he wore long boots and white gauntlets. The three beneath the
beech saluted. He spoke in a pensive and musical voice. "A prisoner,
Cuninghame? Where did you get him?--Ah, it's Richard Cleave!"

The bright December day wore on, sunny and cold in the woods, sunny and
cold above the river. The water, clear now of mist, sparkled, a stream
of diamonds, from shore to shore, except where rose Dam No. 5. Here the
diamonds fell in cataracts. A space of crib-work, then falling gems,
another bit of dry logs in the sun, then again brilliancy and thunder of
water over the dam; this in sequence to the Maryland side. That side
reached, there came a mere ribbon of brown earth, and beyond this ran
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. To-day boats from Cumberland were going
down the canal with coal and forage, and boats from Harper's Ferry were
coming up with a reinforcing regiment of soldiers for Lander at Hancock.
It was bright and lively weather, and the negroes talked to the mules on
the towpath, and the conductors of coal and forage hailed the soldiers,
and the soldiers shouted back. The banks rang to laughter and voices.
"Where're you fellows going?"--"Going to Hancock,--no, don't know where
it is!"--"Purty day! Seen any rebels crost