Despite the dimness Dick saw their eyes brighten.

Colonel Winchester had judged rightly.

The boys were willing.
The rear guard turned back and waited, and in a few minutes the Southern horsemen came in sight, opening fire at once.

Their infantry, too, soon appeared in the woods and fields and the dark hours before the dawn were filled with the crackle of small arms.
Dick kept close to Colonel Winchester who anxiously watched the pursuit, throwing his own regiment across the road, and keeping up a heavy fire on the enemy.

The Union loss was not great as most of the firing in the dusk, of necessity, was at random, and Dick heard bullets whistling all about him.