s shoulder. Warner looked around and
his jaw fell. General McCook, who commanded this part of the army, was
standing beside him.

"Excuse me, sir, I--" began Warner.

"Never mind," said the general. "I had come for a drink of water, and
hearing your debate I stopped for a few moments behind a tree to listen.
I don't know your name, young gentleman."

"Warner, sir, George Warner, first lieutenant in the regiment of Colonel
Winchester."

"I merely wished to say, Lieutenant Warner, that I listened to your
speech from the first word to the last, and I found it very cogent and
powerful. As you say, things must have beginnings. If there is no
first, there can be no second or third. I am entirely convinced by your
argument that our army swallowed a river as it marched southward.
In fact, I have often felt so thirsty that I felt as if I could have
swallowed it myself all alone."

There was another roar of applause, and as a dozen cups filled with
water were pushed at the general, he drank deeply and often, and then
retired amid further applause.

"They'll fight well for him, to-morrow," said Dick.

"No doubt of it," said Warner.

They went into the edge of the wood and sought sleep and rest. But there
was much merry chatter first among these lads, for many of whom death
had already spread its somber wings.

CHAPTER XIII. PERRYVILLE

Dick slept very well that night. The water from the little spring,
gushing out from under the rock, had refreshed him greatly. He would
have rejoiced in another bath, such as one as they had luxuriated in
that night before Frankfort, but it was a thing not be dreamed of now,
and making the best of things as they were, he had gone to sleep among
his comrades.

The dryness of the ground had at least one advantage. They had not colds
and rheumatism to fear, and, with warm earth beneath them and fresh air
above, they slept more soundly than if they had been in their own beds.
But while they were sleeping the wary Sergeant Whitley was slipping
forward among the woods and ravines. He had received permission from
Colonel Winchester, confirmed by a higher officer, to go on a scout, and
he meant to use his opportunity. He had made many a scouting trip on
the plains, where there was less cover than here, and there torture and
death were certain if captured, but here it would only be imprisonment
among men who were in no sense his personal enemies, and who would not
ill-treat him. So the