d
helped by the powerful current.

Slade was in advance, and he was already disappearing in the shadows on
the far bank, but his comrade, he of the slender figure, was still in
the moonlight, which fell across his face for a moment. A soldier raised
his rifle to fire, but Dick stumbled and fell against him and the bullet
went high in the air.

The moment had been long enough for Dick to recognize Victor Woodville.
He did not know how he happened to be with Slade, but he did not intend
that he should be shot there in the water, and his impulse was quick
enough to save Victor's life. In another moment the young Mississippian
was gone also in the shadows, and although several of the Union men swam
the river they could discover no trace of either.

"I'm sorry," said the sergeant as they walked back to the other side of
the mountain, "that they got away."

"Yes," said Dick, "it was too bad that Slade escaped."

CHAPTER XIII. THE RIVER OF DEATH

Dick knew that he had saved young Woodville's life, but his conscience
was quite dear. If he had the same chance he would do it over again, but
he was sorry they had not caught Slade. He felt no hostility toward the
regular soldiers of the Confederacy, but he knew there were guerillas on
their side, as well as his own, who would stop at nothing. He remembered
Skelly, who, claiming to be a Union partisan, nevertheless robbed and
even killed those of either party whenever he felt it safe to do so.
Slade was his Southern complement, and he would surely get together a
new force as venomous as the old.

But Colonel Winchester and the commander of the Ohio regiment were full
of pride in their exploit, as they had a right to be. They had destroyed
a swarm of wasps which had been buzzing and stinging almost beyond
endurance, and they were still prouder when they received the thanks of
General Thomas.

The corps moved forward the next day, and soon the whole army was united
under Rosecrans. It was a powerful force, about ninety thousand men, the
staunch fighters of the West, veterans of great battles and victories,
and to the young officers it appeared invincible. Their feeling that it
was marching to another triumph was confirmed by the news that Bragg was
retreating.

Yet the two armies were so close to each other that the Northern
vanguard skirmished with the Southern rearguard as they passed through
the mountains. At one point in a gap of the Cumberland Mountains the
So