Snow would be falling before long on the mountains, and they would become a frozen wilderness, almost as wild and savage as they were before the white man came.
But it seemed for a while that the intuition of both Dick and Pennington had failed.

They spent many days in the valley trying to catch the evasive Mosby and his men, although they had little success.

Mosby's rangers knowing the country thoroughly made many daring raids, although they could not become a serious menace.
When they returned through Winchester from the last of these expeditions the Winchester men were wrapped in heavy army cloaks, for the wind from the mountains could now cut through uniforms alone.

Dick, glancing toward the Alleghanies, saw a ribbon of white above their blue line.
"Look, fellows! The first snow!" he said.
"I see," said Warner.

"It snows on the just and the unjust, the unjust being Slade and Skelly, who are surely up there." "Just before we went out," sad Pennington, "the news of some fresh and special atrocity of theirs came in.