Upon this road rode the Southern force in close ranks, but too far away, for any sound of their hoof beats to come to the watchers.

The moon which was uncommonly bright now colored them all with silver, and Dick, with his imaginative mind, easily turned them into a train of the knights of old, clad in glittering mail.
They created such a sense of illusion and distance, time as well as space, that the peace of the moment was not disturbed.

It was a spectacle out of the past, rather than present war.
"You are familiar with the country, of course," said Dick.
"Yes," replied Shepard.

"Our road, as you know, is now running parallel with that on which the Southern force is traveling, with a broad ridge between.

But several miles farther on the ridge becomes narrower and the roads merge.