.

SPRINGING THE TRAP.
Lying close in the bushes the little party watched the Southerners making themselves ready for the night.

The cottages were prepared for the higher officers, but the men stacked arms in the open ground all about.

As well as they could judge by the light of the low fires, soldiers were still crossing the river to strengthen the force already on the Union side.
Colonel Winchester suppressed a groan.

Dick noticed that his face was pallid in the uncertain shadows, and he understood the agony of spirit that the brave man must suffer when he saw that they had been outflanked by their enemy.
Sergeant Whitley, moving forward a little, touched the colonel on the arm.
"All the clouds that we saw a little further back," he said, "have gathered together, an' the storm is about to bust.