"There may not be more than a dozen threads here," he said, "but I found "em sticking to a thorn bush not twenty yards away. A half hour ago they were a part of a woman"s dress. A thorn bush grows among the cedars above. She was in a hurry, and when her dress caught in it she jerked it loose."
"But how do you know it was only a half hour or less ago?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Because she broke two "or three of the thorns when she jerked, and it was so late that their wounds are still bleeding, that is, a faint bit of sap is oozing out at the fractures."
"That sounds conclusive," said d.i.c.k, "but likely it was a mountain woman who lives somewhere along the slope."
The sergeant shook his head.
"No, sir, it was no mountain woman," he said. "When I found the cloth on the thorns I knelt and looked for a trail. It"s hard ground mostly, but I thought I might find the trace of a footstep somewhere. I found several, and not one of them was made by the flat, broad shoe that mountain women wear. I found small rounded heel prints which the shoes worn by city women make."
"If any city woman is on this mountain she"s a long way from home," said Warner.
"But I"m quite sure of what I say, sir," said the sergeant.
"And so am I," said Shepard, who had been listening with the keenest attention. "Will you mind letting me lead the way for a little while, sir?"
"Go ahead, of course," said d.i.c.k. "In such work as this we rely upon the sergeant and you."
"Then I"d like to take a look at those heel prints also."
d.i.c.k thought he detected a quiver of excitement or emotion in the voice of Shepard, always so calm and steady hitherto, and he wondered. Nevertheless he asked no questions as he led the way out of the ravine.
The sergeant showed the heel prints to Shepard, and beyond question they had been made by a woman. By careful scrutiny they found a half dozen more leading in a diagonal direction up the side of the mountain, but beyond that the ground was so hard and rocky that they could discover no further traces.
"You agree with me that the tracks have just been made?" said the sergeant to Shepard.
"I do," replied the spy, his voice showing growing excitement, "and I think I know who made them. I didn"t believe it at first. It seemed incredible. I want to try a little experiment. Will all of you remain perfectly still?"
"Of course," said d.i.c.k.
He took a small whistle from his pocket and blew upon it. The sound was not shrill like that of Slade"s whistle, but was very low, soft and musical. He blew only a few notes. Then he took the whistle from his lips and waited. d.i.c.k saw that his excitement was growing. It showed clearly in the spy"s eyes, and he felt his own excitement increasing, too. He divined that something extraordinary was going to happen.
Out of the cedars to their right and a little higher up the slope came the notes of a whistle, exactly similar, low, soft and musical.
"Ah, I knew it!" breathed Shepard. He waited perhaps half a minute and then blew again, notes similar and just the same in number. In a few moments came the reply, a precise duplicate.
"We"ll wait," said Shepard. "She"ll be here in a minute or two."
d.i.c.k and his comrades looked eagerly toward the point from which the sound of the second whistle had come. This was something amazing, something beyond their experience, but the excitement of Shepard seemed to have pa.s.sed. His face had become a mask once more, and he was waiting with certainty.
d.i.c.k"s sharp ear caught the sound of a light footstep approaching them, evidently coming straight and with confidence. He realized that until now he had not really believed, despite the footprints, despite everything, that a woman was on the mountain. But he knew at last. He even heard the swish of her skirts once or twice against the bushes. Then she came through the dwarfed cedars, stepping boldly, and stood before them.
The stranger stood full in the moonlight, and d.i.c.k saw her very clearly. She was thin, small and elderly, clothed in a gray riding suit, and with a sort of small gray turban on her head. But despite her smallness and thinness and years there was nothing insignificant in her appearance. As she stood there looking at them, she showed a pair of the brightest and most intelligent eyes that d.i.c.k had ever seen. Her small, pointed chin had the firmness of steel, and figure, manner and appearance alike betokened courage and resolution in the highest degree.
All these impressions were made upon d.i.c.k in a single instant, as if in a flash of light, and he also noticed in her face a resemblance to some one, although he could not recall, for a moment, who it was. But the silence that endured for a half minute, while the men regarded the woman and the woman regarded the men, was broken by Shepard, who uttered a low cry and strode forward.
"Henrietta," he exclaimed, "you here at such a time!"
He put his arms around her and kissed her.
She returned his kiss, laughed a little, and the two turned toward the others. Then d.i.c.k saw whom she resembled. As they stood side by side the likeness was marked, the same eyes, the same nose, the same mouth, the same chin, only hers were in miniature, in comparison with his, and in addition she was eight or ten years older.
"Mr. Mason," said Shepard, addressing himself directly to their nominal leader. "This is my sister. She also serves as I do, and for her, hardships and dangers are not less than mine for me. She works chiefly in Richmond itself. But as you see, she has now come alone into the mountains, and also into the very fringe of the armies."
"Then," said d.i.c.k, "she must come on a mission of great importance and it is for us to honor so brave a messenger."
He and all the others took off their caps in silence. They might have cheered, but every one knew that the foe was not far away in the thickets. There was sufficient light for him to see a little flush of pride appear for a moment on the face of the woman. Strange as her position was, she seemed easy and confident, lightly swinging in her hand a small riding whip.
"I"ll not ask you for the present, Henrietta, how you come to be here," said Shepard, "but I"ll ask instead what you"ve brought. These young men are Lieutenant Mason, Lieutenant Warner and Lieutenant Pennington. As I"ve indicated already, Lieutenant Mason leads us."
"I bring information," she replied, "information that you will be glad to carry to General Sheridan. As a woman I could go where men could not, and you remember, Brother William, that I know the country."
"Almost as well as I do," said Shepard. "As a girl you rode like a man and were afraid of nothing. Nor do you fear anything today."
"Tell General Sheridan," she said, turning to d.i.c.k, "that the Confederate numbers are even less than he thinks, that a large area at the base of Little North Mountain is wholly unoccupied."
"And if we get there," exclaimed d.i.c.k, eagerly, "we can crash in on the flank of Early."
"I"m not a soldier," she said, "but that plan was in my mind. A large division could be hidden in the heavy timber along Cedar Creek, and then, if the proper secrecy were observed, reach the Confederate flank tomorrow night, unseen."
"And that"s on the other side of the valley," said d.i.c.k.
"But at this point it"s only four or five miles across."
"I wasn"t making difficulties, I was merely locating the places as you tell them."
"I"ve drawn a map of the Confederate position. It"s in pencil, but it ought to help."
"It will be beyond price!" exclaimed d.i.c.k. "You will give it to me?"
"Of course! But you must wait a minute! Until I heard my brother"s whistle I didn"t know whether it was North or South that I was going to meet on the mountain."
She disappeared in the bushes, and d.i.c.k heard a light rustling, but in a few moments she returned and held out a broad sheet of heavy paper, upon which a map had been drawn with care and skill. He had divined already its great value, and now his opinion was confirmed.
"I can"t thank you," he said, as he took it, "but General Sheridan and General Grant can. And I"ve no doubt they"ll do it when the time comes."
Again the light flush appeared in her cheeks and she looked actually handsome.
"Since my present task is finished," she said, "I"d better go."
"Where did you leave your horse?" asked Shepard.
"He"s tethered in the bushes about a hundred yards farther down the side of the mountain. I"ll mount and ride back in the direction of Richmond. I know all the roads."
Sergeant Whitley, who had gone a little higher up and who was watching while they talked, whistled softly. Yet the whistle, low as it was, was undoubtedly a signal of alarm.
"Go at once, Henrietta," whispered Shepard, urgently. "It"s important that you shouldn"t be held here, that you be left with a free hand."