We can't do anything to head him off." On the second day after joining the column Dick was ahead with the cavalry, riding beside Colonel Hertford, and listening to occasional shots in their front on the Jackson road.

Both believed they would soon be in touch with the enemy.

Sergeant Whitley, acting now as a scout, had gone forward through a field and in a few minutes galloped back.
"The enemy is not far away," he said.

"They're posted along a creek, with high banks and in a wood.

They've got a strong artillery too, and I think they about equal us in numbers." Dick carried the report to the commander of the column, and soon the trumpets were calling the men to battle.