OVER THE HILLS Dick and his little troop rode on through the silent country, and they were so watchful and thorough that they protected fully the right flank of the marching column.

One or two shots were fired, but the reports came from such distant points that he knew the bullets had fallen short.
But while he beat up the forests and fields for sharpshooters he was very thoughtful.

He had a mind that looked far ahead, even in youth, and the incident at the house weighed upon him.

He foresaw the coming triumph of the North and of the Union, a triumph won after many great disasters, but he remembered what an old man at a blacksmith shop in Tennessee had told him and his comrades before the Battle of Stone River.

Whatever happened, however badly the South might be defeated, the Southern soil would still be held by Southern people, and their bitterness would be intense for many a year to come.