corps were
now beyond the Antietam, and they should be able to do anything.

The Winchester regiment lay in deep woods, and the great division
although it had rested nearly all the day was quiet in the night. But
some ardent souls could not rest. A group of officers, including Colonel
Winchester and the three young members of his staff, walked forward
through the woods, taking the chance of stray shots from sentinels or
skirmishers. But they knew that this risk was not great.

They passed near a mill, its wheels and saws silent now, and presently
as the moon rose they saw the square white walls of a building shining
in its light.

"The Dunkard church," said one of the officers. "I think we'd better not
go any closer. The Johnnies must be lying thick close at hand."

"The dim light off to the right must be made by their fires," said
Colonel Winchester. "I wish I knew what troops they are. Jackson's
perhaps. It's a rough country, and all these forests and ridges and
hills will help the defense. I understand that the farms in here are
surrounded by stone fences and that, too, will help the Johnnies."

"But we'll get 'em," said another confidently. "The battle can't be put
off any longer, and we're bound to smash 'em in the morning."

They remained in the darkness for a while, trying to see what was
passing toward the Southern lines, but they could see little. There
was some rifle firing after a while, and the occasional deep note of a
cannon, mostly at random and the little group walked back.

"I'm going to sleep, Dick," said Warner. "I've just remembered that
I'm an invalid and that if I overtask myself it will be a bad thing for
McClellan to-morrow. The colonel doesn't want us any longer, and so here
goes."

"I follow," said Pennington. "The dry earth is good enough for me. May I
stay on top of it for the next half century."

Warner and Pennington slept quickly, but Dick lay awake a long time,
listening to the stray rifle shots and the distant boom of a cannon at
far intervals. After a while, he looked at his watch and saw that it was
midnight. It was more than an hour later when slumber overtook him,
and while he and his comrades lay there the last of Jackson's men were
coming with the help that Lee needed so sorely.

Two divisions which had been left at Harper's Ferry started at midnight
just as Dick was looking at his watch and at dawn they were almost to
the Potomac. On their flank was a cavalry brigade a