“Sheridan!  Sheridan!  Sheridan!”

The sabers made another flashing curve, sank back into their scabbards, and the men were silent.

Sheridan’s tanned face flushed deeply, and a great light leaped up in his eyes, as he received the magnificent salute.  His own sword sprang out, and made the salute in reply.  Then, riding a little closer, he said in a loud, clear tone that all could hear: 

“Men, I have been looking for you!  I have come forward to meet you!  I knew that you were great horsemen, gallant soldiers, but I see that you are even greater and more gallant men than I had hoped.  The Army of the Potomac has sent its best as a gift to the Army of the Shenandoah.  Men, I thank you for this welcome, the warmest I have ever received!”

Again the sabers flashed aloft, made their glittering curve, and again from muscular throats came the thunderous cheer: 

“Sheridan!  Sheridan!  Sheridan!”

Then the young general shook hands heartily with the three colonels, the young aides were introduced, and with Sheridan himself at their head the whole column swept off toward the north, and to the camp of the Army of the Shenandoah which lay but a little distance away.

CHAPTER VI

THE FISHERMEN

The welcome that the column found in Sheridan’s camp was as warm as they had hoped, and more.  Fifteen hundred sabers such as theirs were not to be valued lightly, and Sheridan knew well the worth of three such colonels as Hertford, Winchester and Bedford, with all three of whom he was acquainted personally, and with whose records he was familiar.  Dick, Pennington and Warner also came in for his notice, and he recalled having seen Dick at the fierce battle of Perryville in Kentucky, a fact of which Dick was very proud.

“Now don’t become too haughty because he remembers you,” said Warner reprovingly.  “Bear in mind that trifles sometimes stick longer in our minds than more important things.”

“It’s just jealousy on your part,” said Dick.  “You New Englanders are able people, but you can’t bear for anybody else to achieve distinction.”

“We don’t have to feel that jealousy often,” said Warner calmly.

“Merit like charity begins with you at home.”

“And modesty can’t keep us from admitting it, but you Kentuckians do fight well—­under our direction.”

“Don’t talk with him, Dick,” said Pennington.  “Against his wall of mountainous conceit wisdom breaks in vain.”

“I’m glad to see you expressing yourself so poetically, Frank,” said Warner.  “The New England seed planted in Nebraska will flower into bloom some day.”

Sergeant Whitley came at that moment and asked them to go and see the new horses provided for them, and the three went with him, friends bound to one another by hooks of steel.  The horses given to them by special favor of Sheridan in place of their worn-out mounts, were splendid animals, and Sergeant Whitley himself had prepared them for their first appearance before their new masters.