"You think we're thoroughly hidden now, Canby?" said the colonel.

"Yes, sir. Unless they've located us precisely on advance information.
I don't see how they could find us among the mountains in all this
darkness and rain."

"But they've had the advance information! Look there!" exclaimed Major
Hertford, pointing toward the high ridge that lay on their right.

A beam of light had appeared on the loftiest spur, standing out at
first like a red star in the darkness, then growing intensely brighter,
and burning with a steady, vivid light. The effect was weird and
powerful. The mountain beneath it was invisible, and it seemed to burn
there like a real eye, wrathful and menacing. The older men, as well as
the boys, were held as if by a spell. It was something monstrous and
eastern, like the appearance of a genie out of the Arabian Nights.

The light, after remaining fixed for at least a minute, began to move
slowly from side to side and then faster.

"A signal!" exclaimed Colonel Newcomb. "Beyond a doubt it is the
Southerners. Whatever they're saying they're saying it to somebody.
Look toward the south!"

"Ah, there they are answering!" exclaimed Major Hertford.

All had wheeled simultaneously, and on another high spur a mile to the
south a second red light as vivid and intense as the first was flashing
back and forth. It, too, the mountain below invisible, seemed to swing