They advanced noiselessly over the crest of a ridge, and the squad, which gained a little on the rest, saw a rebel videt sitting on his horse in the road some 200 or 300 yards away. The guns of the nervous boys were up instantly, but Si restrained them with a motion of his hand. "What's the matter with him?" he asked Shorty, indicating the rebel. "Him and his hors's wore out and asleep," answered Shorty, after a minute's study. "Look at his head and his hoss's." "Kin we sneak up on him and git him?" asked Si. "Scarcely," answered Shorty. "Look over there." A squad of rebels were riding swiftly up the road toward the videt. "Shan't I shoot him?" asked the nervous little Pete, lifting his gun to his face. "No, no; give him a show for his life," answered Shorty, laying his hand on Pete's gun. "It'd be murder to shoot him now. Gi' me your gun, Pete. Run down the road there apiece, and hit him or his horse with a stone and wake him up." The boys, to whom a rebel was a savage wolf, to be killed any way that he could be caught, looked wonderingly at Si, who responded by a nod of approval. "Won't he chop me with his sword?" asked Pete, still full of the terrors of that weapon. "We'll look out for that. Go ahead, quick, Pete," said Si. Poor little Pete, looking as if he was being sent to lead a forlorn hope, rushed frantically forward, picking up a stone as he ran, and hurled it with a true aim squarely against the rebel's breast, who woke with a start, clutched his carbine, and stared around, while little Pete dashed into the brush to avoid his dreaded saber. "Look out for yourself, reb. We're a-coming," shouted Si. The rebel whirled his horse about, fired his carbine into the air, and sped back to his friends, while the squad rushed forward and took position behind trees. The rebels came plunging on. "Fire!" shouted Si. The guns of the squad crashed almost together. The bullets seemed to strike near, but without taking effect on any one of the rebels, who seemed to catch sight of the rest of Co. Q coming over the crest. They whirled their horses around, and started back on a sharp trot, while the boys were reloading. "Go ahead. Sergeant," shouted Capt. McGillicuddy, from the rear. "Follow them up. We're right behind you. Push them back on their reserves." "All right, Cap. Back they go," shouted Si, leading forward his squad in a heavy-footed run down the road. They soon came to an opening of somewhat level ground, made by the clearing around a cabin. The rebel squad halted beyond the cornfields, turned about, and opened fire. "Holy smoke, look there," gasped Monty Scruggs, as a company of rebel cavalry came tearing over the hill in front, to the assistance of their comrades. "Them ain't many for cavalry," said Shorty, as he and Si deployed the boys behind fence-corners, and instructed them to shoot carefully and low.