. A figure, seen indistinctly in the darkness, stood before her.

"Who are you?" she asked doubtfully.

"Don't be afraid, ma'am, it's only me."

"And you--"

"Are the man you saved this morning!"

"God be thanked! Then you were not killed?"

"Do I look like a dead man? No, my time hasn't come yet. I foiled 'em in
the wood, and there I have spent all day. Have you any victuals, for I
am famished?"

"Yes, come in."

"I can not stay. I will take what you have and leave at once, for the
villains may be lurkin' round here somewhere. But first, the bullet!
have you that safe?"

"Here it is."

The scout put it in his pocket, and taking in his hand a paper box of
bread and meat which his loyal hostess brought him, resumed his
hazardous journey.

He knew that there were other perils to encounter, unless he was
particularly fortunate, but he had a heart prepared for any fate. The
perils came, but he escaped them with adroitness, and at midnight of the
following day he was admitted into the presence of Colonel Craven.

Surely this was no common man, and his feat was no common one.

In forty-eight hours, traveling only by night, he had traversed one
hundred miles with a rope round his neck, and without the prospect of
special reward. For he was but a private, and received but a private's
pay--thirteen dollars a month, a shoddy uniform, and hard-tack, when he
could get it.

Colonel Craven opened the bullet, and read the dispatch.

It was dated "Louisa, Kentucky, December 24, midnight"; and directed him
to move at once with his regiment (the Fortieth Ohio, eight hundred
strong) by way of Mount Sterling and McCormick's Gap, to Prestonburg. He
was to encumber his men with as few rations as possible, since the
safety of his command depended on his celerity. He was also requested to
notify Lieutenant-Colonel Woodford, at Stamford, and direct him to join
the march with his three hundred cavalry.

On the following morning Col. Craven's column began to move. The scout
waited till night, and then set out on his return. The reader will be
glad to learn that the brave man rejoined his regiment.

CHAPTER XXIII.

GARFIELD'S BOLD STRATEGY.

Garfield didn't wait for the scout's return. He felt that no time was to
be lost. The expedition which he had planned was fraught with peril, but
it was no time for timid counsels.

On the morning following Jordan's departure he set out up the river,
halting at George's Creek