For his sake they also made Warner and Pennington welcome, but they freely predicted a great disaster for the North.

Bragg would come out of East Tennessee with his veterans, and they would give Rosecrans the defeat that he deserved.

The boys held good natured arguments with them on this point, but all finally agreed to leave it to the decision of the war itself.
The great dryness had now passed so completely that it seemed impossible such a thing ever could have been.

The rains had been heavy and almost continuous, and the earth soaked in water.

But despite chill winds and chill rains rumors of Southern activity came to them, and in the last month of the year Rosecrans gathered his forces at Nashville in Tennessee.
Dick and his comrades enjoyed a few bright days here.