Perhaps we may possibly do so," replied the lieutenant.

"Impossible; I have looked into that creek before. It is wide near the
river, and after the freshet of the last three days it is a rushing
torrent, and the great river is not much better out in the middle,"
protested Fronklyn.

"Well, we must do something," Deck insisted earnestly. "I am going to
move over where there is something going on. We can't afford to waste
our time while we have any of it on our hands."

"All right, Lieutenant; I will follow you wherever you go," returned
the sergeant.

Deck led the way towards the centre of the camp; but he had not gone
two rods before he stumbled over the form of a dead trooper, one of the
number who had been unhorsed in the charge of the platoon. Half a dozen
more of them lay near the spot where the heaviest of the fighting had
been done. Probably the wounded had been picked up and borne to the
hospital.

"Lie down, Sergeant!" said Deck, as he did so himself.

A mounted officer rode along the line of sentinels as far as the creek,
evidently assuring himself that all was safe in this part of the camp.
He paused a moment at each of the guards, and finally turned his horse
and rode back the way he had come.

"We must get over by the river, and see how it looks there," said Deck
when the officer had passed out of hearing.

"Then we had better snake it; for if we stand up it may attract the
attention of the sentinel nearest to us," suggested the sergeant, as he
began to crawl after the manner of the reptile he had mentioned.

The lieutenant followed his example; for he realized that a moving
object could be made out in the darkness. By this slow process of
locomotion they reached the bank of the river, and heard the dull flow
of the water from the middle of the great stream. The bank was high and
steep; and it was soft and wet. From this point they could see a
steamboat,--a small affair. It was headed up the river; but the light
of the fires in the forward part of the craft enabled them to see her,
and to make out her position.

On the shore above her there was a considerable crowd of men; but the
observers were too far off to be seen distinctly. They could make out
by the light of the steamer's fires two large flatboats, and a much
smaller craft was made fast to the stern of the steamer. Deck had an
idea, but he did not mention it. Stepping over the bank of the river,
he began to descend the steep and slippery