September days passed and they saw the summer turning into autumn.

The mountains in the distance looked blue, but, near at hand, their foliage had turned brown.

The great heat gave way to a crisper air and the lads who had come from the trenches before Petersburg enjoyed for a little while the luxury of early autumn and illimitable space.
They rode now and then with the cavalry outposts.

Early and his men stretched across the valley to oppose them, and often Northern and Southern pickets were in touch, though they seldom fired upon one another.

Dick, whenever he rode with the advanced guard, watched for Harry Kenton, St.Clair and Langdon, but it was nearly a week before he saw them.