led, too, that he was master upon the waters, that there was no
Southern fleet to face his, as it sailed up the Southern rivers. The
telegraph was already announcing that the gunboats, which had been
handled with such skill and courage, would be in the Cumberland ready to
co-operate with Grant when he should move on Donelson.

Buell was moving also to form another link in the steel chain that was
intended to bind the Confederacy in the west. Here again the mastery of
the rivers was of supreme value to the North. Buell embarked his army on
boats on Green River in the very heart of Kentucky, descended that river
to the Ohio, passing down the latter to Smithland, where the Cumberland,
coming up from the south, entered it, and met another convoy destined
for the huge invasion.

But the first convoy had come, also by boat, from another direction,
and from points far distant. There were fresh regiments of farmers and
pioneers from Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota. They were all eager, full
of enthusiasm, anxious to be led against the enemy, and confident of
triumph.

Grant and his army, meanwhile, lying in the bleak forest beside the
Tennessee, knew little of what was being said of them in the great world
without. All their thoughts were of Donelson, across there on the other
river, and the men asked to be led against it. Inured to the hardships
of border life, there was little sickness among them, despite the winter
and the overflow of the flooded streams. They gathered the dead wood
that littered the forest, built numerous fires, and waited as patiently
as they could for the word to march.

The Pennsylvanians were still camped with the Kentucky regiment to which
Dick now belonged, and the fifth evening after the capture of Henry he
and his friends sat by one of the big fires.

"We'll advance either tomorrow or the next day," said Warner. "The
chances are at least ninety per cent in favor of my statement. What do
you say, sergeant?"

"I'd raise the ninety per cent to one hundred," replied Whitley. "We are
all ready an' as you've observed, gentlemen, General Grant is a man who
acts."

"The Johnnies evidently expect us," said Pennington. "Our scouts have
seen their cavalry in the woods watching us, but only in the last day or
two. It's strange that they didn't begin it earlier."

"They say that General Pillow, who commands them, isn't of much force,"
said Dick.

"Well, it looks like it," said Warner, "but from what we