The Southern army was at once ordered forward in pursuit and in the
night the vanguard, wading the Rapidan, followed eagerly. Dick and
his comrades did not know then that they were followed so closely, but
they were destined to know it before morning. The regiment of Colonel
Winchester, one of the best and bravest in the whole service, formed a
part of the rearguard, and Dick, Warner and Pennington rode with their
chief.
The country was broken and they crossed small streams. Sometimes they
were in open fields, and again they passed through long stretches of
forest. There was a strong force of cavalry with the regiment, and the
beat of the horses' hoofs made a steady rolling sound which was not
unpleasant.
But Dick found the night full of sinister omens. They had left the
Rapidan in such haste that there was still a certain confusion of
impressions. The gigantic scale of everything took hold of him. One
hundred and fifty thousand men, or near it, were marching northward in
two armies which could not be many miles apart. The darkness and the
feeling of tragedy soon to come oppressed him.
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