The boys and the sergeant rode fast on the return trail. They knew that
Major Hertford would push forward at all speed to join Thomas, whom they
could now locate without much difficulty. Jarvis and Ike had resumed
their fence-mending, but when the trees hid the valley from them a
mighty, rolling song came to the ears of Dick, Warner and the sergeant:
They bore him away when the day had fled,
And the storm was rolling high,
And they laid him down in his lonely bed
By the light of an angry sky.
The lightning flashed, and the wild sea lashed
The shore with its foaming wave,
And the thunder passed on the rushing blast
As it howled o'er the rover's grave.
"That man's no fool," said Dick.
"No, he ain't," said the sergeant, with decision, "nor is that nephew
Ike of his that he calls a lunkhead. Did you notice, Mr. Mason, that the
boy never spoke a word while we was there? Them that don't say anything
never have anything to take back."
They rode hard now, and soon reached Major Hertford with their news.
On the third day thereafter they entered a strong Union camp, commanded
by a man named Garfield, the young officer who had won the victory at
Middle Creek.
CHAPTER VI
MILL SPRING
Garfield's camp was on a little group of hills in a very strong position,
and his men, flushed with victory, were eager for another encounter with
the enemy. They had plenty of good tents to fend them from the winter
weather which had often been bitter.
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