er, was Johnsonville,
where Sherman had his largest cache of supplies, from which he was
feeding, clothing, equipping the army now slashing through the center of
the South. They had been able to cripple his rail system partially on
that raid two weeks earlier; now they were aiming to cut the river
ribbon of the Yankee network.

Buford's division occupied Fort Heiman, well above the crucial section.
The Confederates also held Paris Landing. Now they were set to put the
squeeze on any river traffic. Guns were brought into station--Buford's
two Parrots, one section of Morton's incomparable battery with Bell's
Tennesseeans down at the Landing. They had moved fast, covered their
traces, and Drew himself could testify that the Yankees were as yet
unsuspecting of their presence in the neighborhood.

He found General Buford now and reported.

"Rennie, see this bend...." The General's finger stabbed down on the
sketch map the scouts had prepared days earlier. "I've been thinkin'
that a vedette posted right here could give us perhaps a few minutes of
warning ahead when anything started to swim into this fishnet of ours.
General Forrest wants some transports, maybe even a gunboat or two.
We're in a good position to deliver them to him, but before we begin the
game, I want most of the aces right here--" He smacked the map against
the flat of his other palm.

"A signal system, suh. Say one of those--" Drew pointed to the very
large and very red handkerchief trailing from Buford's coat pocket.
"Wave one of those out of the bushes: one wave for a transport, two for
a gunboat."

The General jerked the big square from his pocket, inspected it
critically, and then called over his shoulder.

"Jasper, you get me another one of these--out of the saddlebags!"

When the Negro boy came running with the piece of brilliant cloth,
Buford motioned for him to give it to Drew.

"Mind you, boy," he added with some seriousness, "I want that back in
good condition when you report in. Those don't grow handily on trees. I
have only three left."

"Yes, suh," Drew accepted it with respect. "I'm to stay put until
relieved, suh?"

"Yes. Better take someone to spell you. I don't want any misses."

Back at the scout fire Drew collected Boyd. This was an assignment the
boy could share. And shortly they had hollowed out for themselves a
small circular space in the thicket, with two carefully prepared
windows, one on the river, the other for their s