Here, they were faced again by blind doors and windows, but Early and his force were gone.

Shepard brought news that he had prepared for a stand at Waynesborough, although he had only two thousand men.
"Our general will attack him at once," said Warner, when he heard of it.
"He sweeps like a hurricane." "He is surely the general for us at such a time," said Pennington, who began to feel himself a military authority.
"It's humane, at least," said Dick.

"The quicker it's over the smaller the toll of ruin and death." Nor had they judged Sheridan wrongly.

His men advanced with speed, hunting Early, and they found him fortified with his scanty forces on a ridge near the little town of Waynesborough.

The daring young leader, Custer, and Colonel Winchester, riding forward, found his flank exposed, and it was enough for Sheridan.