He could not keep from rising at times, and, in the starlight, looking at the fires of the foe and the dark slopes of the mountains.

His glasses passed more than once over the forests along Cedar Creek, but no prevision, no voice out of the dark, told him that Dick was there, one of a formidable force that was lying hidden, ready to strike the fatal blow.

His last dim sight, as he fell asleep, was a spectacle evoked from the past, a vision of Old Jack riding at the head of his phantom legions to victory.
* * * * At dawn all of Crook's forces marched out of the woods along Cedar Creek, the Winchester men, Shepard at their head, leading, but they still kept to the shelter of the forest and wide ravines along the lower slopes of the mountain.

The sun was not clear of the eastern hills before the heavy thudding of the great guns and the angry buzz of the rifles came from the direction of Fisher's Hill.
The demonstration had begun and it was a big one, big enough to make the defenders think it was reality and not a sham.

Before Early's earthworks a great cloud of smoke was gathering.