of the
Wilderness, that dismal region reeking with slaughter and ruin, and
before them lay firm soil, and green fields, in all the flush of a
brilliant May morning.

"Well, we did come out of Hades, Harry," said Dalton.

"And it does look like Heaven, but the trouble with our Hades, George,
is that the inmates will follow us. Put your glasses to your eyes and
look off there."

"Horsemen as sure as we're sitting in our own saddles."

"And Northern horsemen, too. Their uniforms are new enough for me to
tell their color. I take it that Grant's vanguard has moved by our right
flank and has come out of the Wilderness."

"And our surmises that we were to meet it are right. Spottsylvania Court
House is not far away, and maybe we are bound for it."

"And maybe the Yankees are too."

Harry's words were caused by the sound of a distant and scattering fire.
In obedience to an order from Anderson, he and Dalton galloped forward,
and, from a ridge, saw through their glasses a formidable Union column
advancing toward Spottsylvania. As they looked they saw many men fall
and they also saw flashes of flame from bushes and fences not far from
its flank.

"Our sharpshooters are there," said Harry. And he was right. While the
Union force was advancing in the night Stuart had dismounted many of his
men and using them as skirmishers had incessantly harassed the march of
Grant's vanguard led by Warren.

"Each army has been trying to catch the other napping," said Dalton.

"And neither has succeeded," said Harry.

"Now we make a race for the Spottsylvania ridge," said Dalton. "You see
if we don't! I know this country. It's a strong position there, and
both generals want it."

Dalton was right. A small Union force had already occupied Spottsylvania,
but the heavy Southern division crossing the narrow, but deep, river Po,
drove it out and seized the defensive position.

Here they rested, while the masses of the two armies swung toward them,
as if preparing for a new battlefield, one that Harry surveyed with great
interest. They were in a land of numerous and deep rivers. Here were
four spreading out, like the fingers of a human hand, without the thumb,
and uniting at the wrist. The fingers were the Mat, the Ta, the Po,
and the Nye, and the unit when they united was called the Mattopony.

Lee's army was gathering behind the Po. A large Union force crossed it
on his flank, but, recognizing the danger of such a posit