The stranger stood full in the moonlight, and Dick 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 Dick 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 Dick 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 Dick 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 Dick, “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 Dick, “that the Confederate numbers are even less than he thinks, that a large area at the base of Little North Mountain is wholly unoccupied.”