fully examined the country on the other side of the river. Deck had
no idea what he was looking for, and he said nothing. As he had come
with the Riverlawns, it was evident that he had a mission to carry out;
but so far he had kept his own counsel. Possibly he did not yet know
what he should do. The Confederate army, or the greater portion of it,
had effected its escape across the river in the steamer the fugitives
had seen where they took the boat, and in other craft gathered there.

General Crittenden had abandoned a vast quantity of arms and munitions
for which he had not sufficient transportation, and the Union army had
taken possession of them in the morning. The cavalry had attempted to
swim their horses over the swift-flowing river, but a great number of
them had been drowned. The shore for a considerable distance below the
breastworks was covered with dead horses, and with the bodies of men
who had run the risk of riding their steeds through the angry stream.

"It will be impossible for the army of the enemy to remain in the
fortifications they have erected at Mill Springs," said Captain
Woodbine, as he closed the field-glass, and returned it to the case.
"They were in a starving condition on this side of the river, and they
must be worse off on the other side. We will ride up the stream, and
see what there is to be seen."

The staff-officer led the way, and Deck followed him in silence. He
wondered what the captain was driving at, but he asked no questions. At
Cuffy's ferry the captain found the ferryman, and halted to write a
note in his memorandum-book, which he tore out, and directed the negro
to deliver it to the commanding officer of the squadron when the force
arrived.

"It is only an order for your father to wait till we return," said the
captain; and then he rode on. "Do you know your way along the river,
Lieutenant?" he asked a little later.

"No, sir; Fronklyn and I came down to this bend in a boat, of which the
ferryman has taken possession, as I told him to do, for he had lost his
own. But you will soon come to a swollen stream that flows into the
river; and you cannot get across that, for the banks are very high and
steep," replied Deck.

The captain continued on his way at a slow walk, for the horses mired
in the soft soil, keeping his gaze fixed on the opposite shore. At the
end of half an hour they came to a little hill, at the foot of which
the tributary stream discharged itself into the