At three o'clock in the morning the word to advance was given and the whole division marched forward in the starlight.
They had not gone far before Shepard rode back telling them that the crossing of the Opequan was guarded by Confederate troops.

The cavalry increased their speed.

After the long period of inaction they were anxious to come to grips with their foe.

Dick still rode knee to knee with Warner and Pennington, as they went on at a rapid pace in the starlight, the fields and strips of forest gliding past.

Men on horseback talk less at night than in the day and moreover these had little to say.