thet ye must hev growed to it since we were on ther canal-ef ye went upon Marshall, trenched as he is, with a man short on twenty thousand. I kin 'guess' ye's that many.'

"Guess again. I haven't that number."

"Well, that will do for a Kentuckian. Now, today, I will keep you under lock and key, and tonight you can go back to Marshall.”

At nightfall, Brown set out for the rebel camp, and, on the following day, Garfield put his little army, reduced now by sickness and garrison-duty, to fourteen hundred, in motion.

It was a toilsome march. The roads were kneedeep in mire, and encumbered as it was with only a light train, the army made very slow progress. Some days it marched five or six miles, and some considerably less, but on January 6th, it arrived within seven miles of Paintville. Here the men threw themselves upon the wet ground, and Garfield laid down in his boots, in a wretched log hut to catch a few hours of slumber.

About midnight, he was roused from his sleep by a man who said his business was urgent. The colonel rubbed his eyes, and raised himself on his elbow.

"Back safe?" he asked. "Have you seen Cranor?"

"Yes, colonel; he can't be any more than two days behind me,"

"God bless you, Jordan! You have done us a great service," said Garfield, warmly.

"I thank you, colonel," answered Jordan, his face trembling, "that is more pay than I expected."

He had returned safely, but the Providence which so wonderfully guarded his way out, seemed to leave him to find his way back, for, as he expressed it, "The Lord cared more for the dispatch than He cared for me, and it was natural He should, because my life counts only one, but the dispatch, it stood for the whole of Kentucky."

Next morning, another horseman rode up to the Union head-quarters. He was a messenger direct from General Buell, who had followed Garfield up the Big Sandy with dispatches. They contained only a few hurried sentences, from a man to a woman, but their value was not to be estimated in money. It was a letter from Humphrey Marshall to his wife, which Buell had intercepted, and it revealed the important fact that the rebel general had five thousand men-four thousand four hundred infantry and six hundred cavalry—with twelve pieces of artillery, and was daily expecting an attack from a Union force of ten thousand!

pocket, and then They assembled

Garfield put the letter in his called a council of his officers. in the rude log shanty, and the question was put

to them:

"Shall we march at once, or wait the coming of Cranor?"

All but one said "Wait!" He said, "Move at once, our fourteen hundred can whip ten thousand rebels."

Garfield reflected awhile, then closed the council with the laconic remark: "Well, forward it is. Give the order."

Three roads led to the rebel position-one at the east, bearing down to the river and along its western bank; another, a circuitous one, to the west, coming in on Paint Creek at the mouth of Jenny's Creek, on the right of the village; and a third between the two others, a more direct route. but climbing a succession of almost impassible ridges. These three roads were held by strong rebel pickets, and a regiment was outlying at the village of Paintville.

The diagram opposite will show the situation.

To deceive Marshall as to his real strength and designs, Garfield orders a small force of infantry and cavalry to advance along the river road, drive in the rebel pickets, and move rapidly after them as if to attack Paintville. Two hours after this small force goes off, a similar one, with the same orders sets off on the road to the westward, and two hours later still another small party takes the middle road. The effect is that the pickets on the first route being vigorously attacked and driven, retired in confusion to Paintville, and dispatched word to Marshall that the Union army is advancing along the river. He hurries off a thousand