Dick, devoured with curiosity and anxiety, went to Colonel Winchester
with the story of what he had seen.
"I know of Shepard," said the colonel. "He is the best and most daring
spy in the whole service of the North. I think you're right in inferring
that he rides so fast for good cause."
Shepard remained with the commander-in-chief a quarter of an hour.
When he came forth from the tent he regained his horse and rode away
without a word, going in the direction of Clark's Mountain. But his news
was quickly known, because it was of a kind that could not be concealed.
Pennington came running with it to the regiment, his face flushed and his
eyes big.
"Look! Look at the mountain!" he exclaimed.
"I see it," said Warner. "I saw it there yesterday, too, in exactly the
same place."
"So did I, but there's something behind it. Lee and Jackson are there
with sixty or eighty thousand men! The whole Southern army is only six
or seven miles away."
Even Warner's face changed.
"How do you know this?" he asked.
"A spy has seen their army. They say he is a man whose reports are never
false.
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