It'll do you a world of good, Dick, but don't stay in too long." "Not over a half hour," said Warner.
"O, a quarter of an hour will be long enough," said Pennington, "but I'd advise you to rub yourself down thoroughly, Dick." "I'll do just as you did," laughed Dick.
"And what's that ?" "I'll go to the edge of the creek, look at it, and shiver when I see how cold its waters are.

Then I'll kneel down on the bank, bathe my face, and come away." "You've estimated him correctly, Dick," said Warner, "but you don't have to shiver as much as Frank did." The cold bath, although it was confined to the face only, made his blood leap and sparkle.

He was not a coming captain but a boy again, and he began to think about pleasant ways of passing the time while the ice held them.

After his breakfast he joined Colonel Winchester, who debated the question further with a group of officers.

But there was only one conclusion to which they could come, and that had presented itself already to Dick's mind, namely, to wait as patiently as they could for a thaw, while Shepard, the sergeant and two or three others made their way on foot into the Shenandoah valley to inform Sheridan of what had transpired.
The messengers departed as soon as the conference closed, and the little army was left to pass the time as it chose in the cove.