Company K were now sent forward to the right to relieve a body of skirmishers that had been hidden on the margin of Bull Run, some distance to the westward of the stone bridge.  Jack, going forward with his glass, noticed an officer among the men, but not catching sight of his face did not recognize him.

“Is that a rebel or one of our fellows?” one of the men said, pointing to a horseman disappearing in the woods four hundred yards to the right and in front of the company, marching in a straggling line two abreast, “by the flank,” as it is called.  Jack took his glass to discover, but the rider had disappeared.  An instant after from a knoll, Jack, glass at eye, was examining eagerly the field on the other side of the river, when a horseman suddenly shot into view, riding desperately.

“By George, it is the same man!  I wonder how he crossed the stream?  There must be a bridge down there among those thick trees and bushes,” Jack said, excitedly.

“Are you sure, sergeant, that is the same man that was in the woods to the right there, five minutes ago?”

Jack turned; the officer was at his shoulder.  He saluted respectfully, recognizing, with a thrill of joy, old Red Top, as the company called Sherman.

“Yes, colonel, it’s the same man.  He was in his shirtsleeves and had a blue scarf tied about his arm.  There can be no mistake; several of us saw him quite plainly.”

“If that be true, we’ve gained a half-day’s work in two minutes.”  He was looking diligently through the glass as he spoke, and his eye brightened as he marked the man until he disappeared.  He turned to an orderly that was following at a distance leading a horse.  Mounting this lightly the colonel rode to the head of the company and said in a short, decisive tone: 

“Come ahead men, at a double-quick, until you strike the stream.”  He kept beside the men as they moved.  In fifteen minutes they were at the water’s edge.  Then the company was deployed as skirmishers, two thirds halting where they struck the water and the rest keeping on up the bank of the river for a few hundred yards.  Sherman was eying every inch of the bank until, suddenly reaching a break where fresh tracks of a horse were visible, he directed his orderly to follow, and plunged into the water.  It was not up to the horses’ knees from bank to bank.  Riding back, his face aglow, the colonel ordered the captain to cross half his men and station them up and down on the bank where they would not be seen by the rebels on the high ground above.  Then, addressing Jack, he said: 

“Sergeant, select two or three trusty men.  Follow the bank of the stream until you come to General Hunter’s division, which may be a mile, perhaps more, to the right yonder; you can tell by the firing soon.  Tell General Hunter that we have discovered a ford and shall not have to fight for the stone bridge.  We shall be across in no time and take the enemy in the rear.  If you can’t find Hunter, give this intelligence to any officer in command.  Stay.”