I believe we were about midway between where our people had halted and Nelson’s Ferry, when Gabriel reined in his horse as he said, with the air of one who even while speaking is taking counsel with himself: “I propose that we halt here. Surely the beasts must be in good condition when it becomes necessary for us to return with an account of what has been done, and now I question whether we could keep them at a trot an hour longer. We shall all be the better for the work in hand if we rest until an hour past midnight.” He had started off at right angles with the highway while speaking, we following perforce, and when the road was hidden from view by the foliage, he stopped once more. A better place for camping could not have been found. A tiny brook ran through a grove of pines where the underbrush was so dense as to form ample hiding-place as well as shelter from the dews of night. There was little green feed for the horses; but we carried a goodly store of grain on our saddles, and, heedless of the possible necessities of the future, which seemed so dark, we allowed the tired steeds to eat their pleasure from the store. Such food as we had, and it was, as I have already said, that which we took from the enemy’s camp, we ate, and then, lame and sore in every joint from the long hours in the saddle, laid ourselves down for perchance the last sleep on this earth. There was no desire for conversation; even the Marshall boys, overjoyed as they had been at being allowed to take part in the work of danger, appeared to have come to a realization of all this scout might mean for us, and had ceased to speculate upon what it might be possible for us to do. My eyes were closed in slumber within two or three minutes after I was thus stretched at full length upon the bed of pine-needles, and it seemed as if I had slept several hours when something--I know not what--awakened me. There was no movement on either hand, and even the light of the stars did not penetrate the thicket; yet I could see that the horses were lying down; that my comrades were wrapt in slumber, and it puzzled me to make out why I was thus wakeful. Then, turning my head for no other reason than to make a change of position, I saw what appeared to be the reflection of a camp-fire through the underbrush. When one knows that he is surrounded by enemies, the slightest thing out of the ordinary arouses his suspicions, and although this gleam of light was so faint that at another time I would have given no heed to it, now it seemed absolutely necessary I should understand the cause. Rising cautiously to my feet lest I disturb the tired lads around me, I was on the point of advancing, even while saying to myself that I had grown over-suspicious, when suddenly there came between my eyes and the tiny flame three dark figures.