might.

The troop presently left the river and entered the fields from which the
crops had been reaped long since. When the horsemen came to a fence
twelve men dismounted and threw down enough panels for the others to ride
through without breaking their formation. Everything was done with order
and precision. Harry could not keep from admiring. It was not often
that he saw so early in the war troops who were drilled so beautifully,
and who marched so well together.

Harry always kept on the far side of the fields, and as the fences were
of rails with stakes and riders he was able by bending very low in the
saddle to keep hidden behind them. Nevertheless it was delicate work.
He was sure that if seen he could escape to the forest through the speed
of his horse. But he did not want to be driven off. He wished to follow
that troop to its ultimate destination.

Another mile or two and the Union force bore away to the right, entering
the forest and following a road, where the men rode in files, six
abreast. They did not make much noise, beyond the steady beating of the
hoofs, but they did not seem to seek concealment. Harry made the obvious
deduction that they thought themselves too far beyond the range of the
Southern scouts to be noticed. He felt a thrill of satisfaction, because
he was there and he had seen them.

He rode in the forest parallel with the troop and at a distance of about
four hundred yards. There was scattered undergrowth, enough to hide him,
but not enough to conceal those three hundred men who rode in close files
along a well-used road.