had prevented them from going into North Carolina and joining Sherman.
Hence, they deduced that so active a man as Sheridan would march for a
junction with Grant, and that was where they wanted to go. They did
not believe that the Confederacy was to be finished in North Carolina,
but at Richmond. They knew that Lee's army yet stood between Grant and
the Southern capital, and, there, would be the heart of great affairs.

Spring was now opening and Sheridan's army marched eastward. Men and
horses were covered with mud, but they still had the flush of victories
won, and the incentive of others expected. They were even yet worn by
hard marching and some fighting, but it was a healthy leanness, making
their muscles as tough as whipcord, while their eyes were keen like those
of hawks.

Dick did not rejoice now in the work they were doing, although he saw its
need. Theirs was a task of destruction. For a distance of more than
fifty miles they ruined a canal important to the Confederacy. Boats,
locks, everything went, and they also made cuts by which the swollen
James poured into the canal, flooding it and thrusting it out of its
banks. They met no resistance save a few distant shots, and Sheridan
rejoiced over his plan to join the Army of the Potomac, although he had
not yet been able to send word of it to Grant.

But the omens remained propitious. They saw now that there were no walls
in the rear of the Confederacy and they had little to do but march.
The heavy rains followed them, roads disappeared, and it seemed to the
young captains that they lived in eternal showers of mud. Horses and
riders alike were caked with it, and they ceased to make any effort to
clean themselves.

"This is not a white army," said Warner, looking down a long column,
"it's brown, although it would be hard to name the shade of brown."

"It's not always brown," said Pennington. "Lots of the Virginia mud is a
rich, ripe red. Bet you anything that before tomorrow night we will have
turned to some hue of scarlet."

"We won't take the wager," said Dick, "because you bet on a certainty."

That afternoon the scouts surprised a telegraph station on the railroad,
and found in it a dispatch from General Early. To the great amazement of
Sheridan, Early was not far away. He had only two hundred men, but with
them the grim old fighter prepared to attack the Union army. Sheridan
himself felt a certain pity for his desperate opponent, but he