But it did not come again, although they waited some time.

Instead they heard, as they had heard all through the night, the occasional swish of the soft snow sliding down the slopes.

But Dick saw that the colonel was uneasy, and that his apprehensions were shared both by Shepard and the mountaineer.
"Do you know how many men these brigands have ?" Colonel Winchester asked of Reed.
"I reckon thar are five hundred uv them gorillers," replied the mountaineer.

"Some uv our people spied on 'em in Burton's Cove an' counted 'bout that number." Colonel Winchester glanced at his sleeping camp.
"I have three hundred," he said, "but they're the very flower of our youth.

In the open they could take care of a thousand guerrillas and have something to spare.