Harry soon saw the forest thinning ahead of him and then the trumpet sang
its mellow, golden note again. From a point perhaps a mile ahead came a
reply, also the musical call of the trumpet. Not an echo, but the voice
of a second trumpet, and now Harry knew that another force was coming to
join the first. All his pulses began to beat hard, not with nervousness,
but with intense eagerness to know what was afoot. Evidently it must be
something of importance or strong bodies of Union cavalry would not be
meeting in the woods in this manner.

After the reply neither trumpet sounded again, and the troop that Harry
was following stopped while yet in the woods. He rode his horse behind a
tall and dense clump of bushes, where, well hidden, he could yet see all
that might happen, and waited.

He heard in a few minutes the beat of many hoofs upon the hard road,
advancing with the precision and regularity of trained cavalry. He saw
the head of a column emerge upon the road and an officer ride forward to
meet the commander of the first troop. They exchanged a few words and
then the united force rode southward through the open woods, with the
watchful lad always hanging on their rear.

Harry judged that the new troop numbered about five hundred men, and
eight hundred cavalry would not march on any mere scouting expedition.
His opinion that this was a ride of importance now became a conviction,
and he hardened his purpose to follow them to the end, no matter what the
risk.

It was now about noon, and the sun became warm despite the December day.
The turf softened under the rays and the Union cavalry left an immense
wide trail through the forest. It was impossible to miss it, and Harry,