the cavalrymen drifted back to the infantrymen to quicken their steps, and
the cannons hammered along the road.

A few minutes later, Huntsville was in the control of the Union troops. At
the station, Mitchel found fifteen locomotives, eighty cars, and a cipher
message from Beauregard to the Confederate Secretary of War. Beauregard was
desperately in need of troops, said the decoded message.




CHAPTER EIGHT


THE TRAIN IS CAPTURED

"I have no positive information, but I think that Mitchel captured
Huntsville today!"

Andrews was speaking. An exclamation of surprise came from the men who were
clustered about him in a room of the hotel at Marietta. There were nineteen
of them; travel-worn, tired and still wet from the incessant rain. It was
their last conference before the raid.

"The line between Chattanooga and Corinth is blocked," continued Andrews,
"and no one knows the cause of it. No trains and no telegraph messages are
coming through. Of course it may be that Beauregard has heard of Mitchel's
advance and has chosen to operate in silence. All that we can do is hope
and pray for the best, and carry out our orders. If we can destroy the
railroad between here and Chattanooga, it will put the city at Mitchel's