And so it happened that the following Monday, dressed in the homespun of his mother's loom and carrying the rifle he had taken from the lodge of the Wyandotte chieftain, Rodney Allison left for Winchester to join Morgan's command. CHAPTER XXIII IN THE THICK OF IT "Can ye shoot straight an' often, travel light, starve an' yet fight on an empty stomach?" "I've had some experience at that sort of thing, Colonel Morgan, and think I can be of service in your command." "Where have I seen you? Yer face looks familiar. I have it, your name is Allison an' you were the little feller as showed me the way to the rear of the redskins the day they ambushed Wood out in the Ohio country. Want ye, I reckon I do! I want five hundred like ye." And thus it was that Rodney found welcome when he presented himself to Morgan at Winchester, and the welcome was so hearty that it helped put the boy on friendly footing with his fellows at the start. The march to Morristown was not very pleasant owing to the bad condition of the roads. On the way recruits joined them so that on the first of April, when they reached Washington's headquarters, they numbered about one hundred and eighty men, considerably less than the five hundred wanted. One of the recruits who joined them on the march was a young man whose reception by Morgan attracted general attention, it was so cordial. He was a straight, sinewy fellow with shrewd, kindly gray eyes and "sandy" hair. He was clad like a frontiersman and the moment the colonel saw him he exclaimed, "By all that's good an' glorious, Zeb, I've seen ye in my dreams followin' me up the ladder at the barrier, but I never expected to see ye in the flesh again. Where's yer Fidus--what's his name, that Lovell boy?"[1] "I left him in Boston after the evacuation, an' haven't heard from him since. How are you?" "Never so well in my life. Prison fare up in old Quebec agreed with me, I reckon. Boys," he said, turning to a knot of his men who had gathered about, "this man Zeb, an' a Boston boy, brought up the rear on that march to Quebec. It was the hardest thing I ever did when I detailed 'em for the duty. How they got through alive I never could understand. And young Allison, here, is a chap as was with me fightin' Indians out in the Ohio country. I wish all the boys who've marched with me could fall into the ranks to-day; we'd keep right on to New York an' capture Howe, bag an' baggage." "When we take New York," laughed Zeb, "we'll need more men than Congress ever has got together, I'm thinkin'. I was there when Washington tried to hold it, because Congress an' the country expected him to do the impossible. But, Colonel, I will say as how if you led the way, thar'd not be one of 'em, as ever marched with Morgan, who wouldn't be at yer back." "Good! I like that kind of talk. Meanwhile we'll get the kinks out of our legs marching to Morristown."