Then she went up to Mrs.Mason's bedroom and put out the light, after which she came back to the sitting-room, and, standing by a window in silence, watched over the two over whom she had watched so long.
"Why is it that you can stay such a little while ?" asked Mrs.Mason.
"Mother," replied Dick in a low tone, "General Thomas, who won the battle at Mill Spring, has trusted me.

I bear a dispatch of great importance.

It is to go to General Buell, and it has to do with the gathering of the Union troops in the western and southern parts of our state, and in Tennessee.

I must get through with it, and in war, mother, time counts almost as much as battles.

I can stop only a few minutes even for you." "I suppose it is so.