m. For his sake they also made Warner and Pennington welcome,
but they freely predicted a great disaster for the North. Bragg would
come out of East Tennessee with his veterans, and they would give
Rosecrans the defeat that he deserved. The boys held good natured
arguments with them on this point, but all finally agreed to leave it to
the decision of the war itself.

The great dryness had now passed so completely that it seemed impossible
such a thing ever could have been. The rains had been heavy and almost
continuous, and the earth soaked in water. But despite chill winds and
chill rains rumors of Southern activity came to them, and in the
last month of the year Rosecrans gathered his forces at Nashville in
Tennessee.

Dick and his comrades enjoyed a few bright days here. The city was
crowded with an army and those who supply it and live by it, and it was
a center of vivid activity. Dick had letters from his mother and he
also heard in a roundabout way that Colonel Kenton had gone through the
battle of Perryville uninjured and was now with Bragg at Chattanooga.

But the boys soon heard that despite the winter there was great activity
in the Southern camp. Undismayed by their loss of Kentucky, the Southern
generals meant to fight Rosecrans in Tennessee. The Confederacy had
not been cheered by Lee's withdrawal at Antietam and Bragg's retreat at
Perryville, and meant to strike a heavy blow for new prestige. The whole
Confederate army, they soon heard, had moved forward to Murfreesborough,
where it was waiting, while Forrest and Morgan, the famous cavalry
leaders, were off on great raids.

It was this absence of Forrest and Morgan with the best of the cavalry
that put it into the mind of Rosecrans to attack at once. The thousands
of lads in the army who were celebrating Christmas received that night
the news that they were to march in the morning.

"I've fought three great battles this year," said Warner, "and I don't
think they ought to ask any more of me."

"Be comforted," said Dick. "We start to-morrow, the 26th, which leaves
five days of the year, and I don't think we can arrange a battle in that
time. You'll not have to whip Bragg before the New Year, George."

"Well, I'm glad of it. You can have too many battles in one year. I
didn't get rest enough after my wound at the Second Manassas before I
had to go in and save our army at Antietam, and then it was but a little
time before we fought at Perryville. That