od was good.

My heart beat rapidly as I stared blindly up into the black recess of
that narrow defile, listening intently for the slightest unusual sound
which would indicate the near presence of anything human. It was
caution, not fear, however, which caused me to breathe quickly--my sole,
overpowering dread being that I might have to return, and face Sheridan
with a report of failure. I preferred anything rather than that. I
thought of his stern eyes as he looked me over in the late sunlight of
the evening before; the sharp rasp in his voice, as he said, "Geer, this
is no boy's work," and the quiet, confident reply of my captain,
"Galesworth will do it for you, General, if any one can." The memory of
that scene seemed to stiffen my nerves; I had to make good here in the
dark, alone, and so, on hands and knees, I began creeping slowly up
underneath the tangle of bushes. The path was steep and stony, so
densely overhung with branches as to appear like a tunnel. There were
loose stones which I had to guard against dislodging, and the drier
leaves rustled as I pressed them, aside. This endeavor to avoid noise
made progress slow.

I must have been fully ten minutes, thus endeavoring to break through,
seeing and hearing nothing alarming, yet constantly feeling an odd
premonition of danger, when I finally attained the top of the bank,
perhaps twenty feet back from the river, and looked out through a slight
fringe of bushes. The first thing noticeable was the dull red glow of a
fire, nearly extinguished, some few yards in advance. The little gleam
of light thrown out as the wind stirred the smouldering embers served to
reveal the dirty flap of a tent set up at the edge of a grove of
saplings, and a horse, standing with lowered head, sharply outlined
against the canvas. I could even perceive the deep-seated cavalry
saddle, and catch the shine of accoutrements. All these details came to
me in a sudden flash of observation, for, almost simultaneously with my
rising above the edge of the bank, my ears distinguished voices
conversing, and so closely at hand as to almost unnerve me. I gripped a
root between my fingers to keep from falling, and held on motionless,
striving to locate the speakers. They were to my left, scarcely four
yards distant, yet so dimly revealed against the background of leaves I
could tell nothing of their rank--merely that one was short, and heavily
built, while the other, a much taller, and seemingly more