But Antietam was far in the future, and Dick's mind turned from the
cases of brother against brother to the problems of the icy wilderness
through which they were moving, in a more or less uncertain manner.
Sometimes they were sent on false trails, but their loyal mountaineers
brought them back again. They also found volunteers, and Major
Hertford's little force swelled from three hundred to six hundred.
In the main, the mountaineers were sympathetic, partly through devotion
to the Union, and partly through jealousy of the more prosperous
lowlanders.
One day Major Hertford sent Dick, Warner, and Sergeant Whitley, ahead to
scout. He had recognized the ability of the two lads, and also their
great friendship for Sergeant Whitley. It seemed fitting to him that
the three should be nearly always together, and he watched them with
confidence, as they rode ahead on the icy mountain trail and then
disappeared from sight.
Dick and his friends had learned, at mountain cabins which they had
passed, that the country opened out further on into a fine little valley,
and when they reached the crest of a hill somewhat higher than the
others, they verified the truth of the statement. Before them lay the
coziest nook they had yet seen in the mountains, and in the center of it
rose a warm curl of smoke from the chimney of a house, much superior to
that of the average mountaineer. The meadows and corn lands on either
side of a noble creek were enclosed in good fences.
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