t
intervals all through the night, and the next morning it lay upon the
ground to the depth of an inch or so. Then the second part of the
prophecy was justified. Colonel Winchester himself aroused all his staff
and heads of companies.

"A fine crisp winter morning for us to take a ride," he said cheerfully.
"General Sheridan has become vexed beyond endurance over the doings of
Slade and Skelly, and he has chosen his best band of guerrilla-hunters to
seek 'em out in their lairs and annihilate 'em."

"I knew it," groaned Pennington in an undertone to Dick. "I was as
certain of it as if I had read the order already." But aloud he said as
he saluted: "We're glad we're chosen for the honor, sir. I speak for
Mr. Mason, Mr. Warner and myself."

"I'm glad you're thankful," laughed the colonel. "A grateful and
resolute heart always prepares one for hardships, and we'll have plenty
of them over there in the high mountains, where the snow lies deep.
But we have new horses, furnished especially for this expedition, and
Sergeant Whitley and Mr. Shepard will guide us. The sergeant can hear or
see anything within a quarter of a mile of him, and Mr. Shepard, being
a native of the valley, knows also all the mountains that close it in."

The young lieutenants were sincerely glad the sergeant and Shepard were
to go along, as with them they felt comparatively safe from ambush,
a danger to be dreaded where Slade and Skelly were concerned.

"We agreed that General Sheridan was worth ten thousand men," said Warner,
"and I believe that the battle of Cedar Creek proved it. Now if Sheridan
is worth ten thousand, the sergeant and Shepard are certainly worth a
thousand each. It's a simple algebraic problem which I could demonstrate
to you by the liberal use of x and y, but in your case it's not
necessary. You must accept my word for it."

"We'll do it! We'll do it! say no more!" exclaimed Pennington hastily.

It was a splendid column of men that rode out from the Union camp and
General Sheridan himself saw them off. Colonel Winchester at their head
was a man of fine face and figure, and he had never looked more martial.
The hardships of war had left no mark upon him. His face was tanned a
deep red by the winds of summer and winter, and although a year or two
over forty he seemed to be several years less. Behind him came Dick,
Pennington and Warner, hardy and well knit, who had passed through the
most terrible of all schools, t