The Scouts of Stonewall: The Story of the Great Valley Campaign

  CHAPTER XIII. THE SULLEN RETREAT

  Harry, like the rest of the army, slept soundly through the rest of thenight and they rose to a brilliant first day of June. The scouts saidthat the whole force of Fremont was not far behind, while the army ofShields was marching on a parallel line east of the Massanuttons, andready at the first chance to form a junction with Fremont.

  Youth seeks youth and Harry and Dalton found a little time to talk withSt. Clair and Langdon.

  "We've broken their ring and passed through," said Langdon, "but as sureas we live we'll all be fighting again in a day. If the Yankees followtoo hard Old Jack will turn and fight 'em. Now, why haven't the Yankeesgot sense enough to let us alone and go home?"

  "They'll never do it," said Dalton gravely. "We've got to recognize thatfact. I'm never going to say another word about the Yankees not beingwilling to fight."

  "They're too darned willing," said Happy Tom. "That's the trouble."

  "I woke up just about the dawn," said Dalton. "Everybody was asleep, butthe general, and I saw him praying."

  "Then it means fighting and lots of it," said St. Clair. "I'm going tomake the best use I can of this little bit of rest, as I don't expectanother chance for at least a month. Stonewall Jackson thinks that onehour a day for play keeps Jack from being a dull boy."

  "Just look at our colonels, will you?" said Happy Tom. "They'rebelievers in what Arthur says."

  Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire weresitting in a corner of a rail fence opposite each other, and their bentgray heads nearly touched. But their eyes were on a small board betweenthem and now and then they moved carved figures back and forth.

  "They're playing chess," whispered Happy Tom. "They found the board andset of men in the captured baggage, and this is their first chance touse them."

  "They can't possibly finish a game," said Harry.

  "No," said Tom, "they can't, and it's just as well. Why anybody wants toplay chess is more than I can understand. I'd rather watch a four-milerace between two turtles. It's a lot swifter and more thrilling."

  "It takes intelligence to play chess, Happy," said St. Clair.

  "And time, too," rejoined Happy. "If a thing consumes a lifetime anyway,what's the use of intelligence?"

  A bugle sounded. The two colonels raised their gray heads and gave thechess men and the board to an orderly. The four boys returned to theirhorses, and in a few minutes Jackson's army was once more on the march,the Acadian band near the head of the column playing as joyously asif it had never lost a member in battle. The mountains and the valleybetween were bathed in light once more. The heavy dark green foliage onthe slopes of the Massanuttons rested the eye and the green fields ofthe valley were cheering.

  "I don't believe I'd ever forget this valley if I lived to be athousand," said Harry. "I've marched up and down it so much and everysecond of the time was so full of excitement."

  "Here's one day of peace, or at least it looks so," said Dalton.

  But Jackson beckoned to Harry, bade him ride to the rear and report ifthere was any sign of the enemy. They had learned to obey quickly andHarry galloped back by the side of the marching army. Even now the menwere irrepressible and he was saluted with the old familiar cries:

  "Hey, Johnny Reb, come back! You're going toward the Yankees, not awayfrom 'em."

  "Let him go ahead, Bill. He's goin' to tell the Yankees to stop or he'llhurt 'em."

  "That ain't the way to ride a hoss, bub. Don't set up so straight in thesaddle."

  Harry paid no attention to this disregard of his dignity as an officer.He had long since become used to it, and, if they enjoyed it, he wasglad to furnish the excuse. He reached the rear guard of scouts andskirmishers, and, turning his horse, kept with them for a while, butthey saw nothing. Sherburne, with a detachment of the cavalry was there,and Ashby, who commanded all the horse, often appeared.

  "Fremont's army is not many miles behind," said Sherburne. "If we wereto ride a mile or two toward it we could see its dust. But the Yanksare tired and they can't march fast. I wish I knew how far up the LurayShields and his army are. We've got to look out for that junction ofShields and Fremont."

  "We'll pass the Gap before they can make the junction," said Harryconfidently.

  "How's Old Jack looking?"

  "Same as ever."

  "That is, like a human sphinx. Well, you can never tell from his facewhat he's thinking, but you can be sure that he's thinking somethingworth while."

  "You think then I can report to him that the pursuit will not catch upto-day?"

  "I'm sure of it. I've talked with Ashby also about it and he saysthey're yet too far back. Harry, what day is this?"

  Harry smiled at the sudden question, but he understood how Sherburne,amid almost continuous battle, had lost sight of time.

  "I heard someone say it was the first of June," he replied.

  "No later than that? Why, it seemed to me that it must be nearly autumn.Do you know, Harry, that on this very day, two years ago, I was up therein those mountains to the west with a jolly camping party. I was just aboy then, and now here I am an old man."

  "About twenty-three, I should say."

  "A good guess, but anyway I've been through enough to make me feelsixty. I promise you, Harry, that if ever I get through this war aliveI'll shoot the man who tries to start another. Look at the fields! Howfine and green they are! Think of all that good land being torn up bythe hoofs of cavalry and the wheels of cannon!"

  "If you are going to be sentimental I'll leave you," said Harry, and theaction followed the word. He rode away, because he was afraid he wouldgrow sentimental himself.

  The army continued its peaceful march up the valley and most of thenight that followed. Harry was allowed to obtain a few hours sleep inthe latter part of the night in one of the captured wagons. It was acovered wagon and he selected it because he noticed that the night, evenif it was the first of June, was growing chill. But he had no time to beparticular about the rest. He did not undress--he had not undressed indays--but lying between two sacks of meal with his head on a third sackhe sank into a profound slumber.

  When Harry awoke he felt that the wagon was moving. He also heard thepatter of rain on his canvas roof. It was dusky in there, but he saw infront of him the broad back of the teamster who sat on the cross seatand drove.

  "Hello!" exclaimed Harry, sitting up. "What's happened?"

  A broad red face was turned to him, and a voice issuing from a slitalmost all the way across its breadth replied:

  "Well, if little old Rip Van Winkle hasn't waked up at last! Why, you'veslept nigh on to four hours, and nobody in Stonewall Jackson's army isever expected to sleep more'n three and that's gospel truth, as shore'smy name is Sam Martin."

  "But, Sam, you don't tell me what's happened!"

  "It's as simple as A, B, C. We're movin' ag'in, and that fine June dayyestiddy that we liked so much is gone forever. The second o' June ain'tone little bit like the first o' June. It's cold and it's wet. Can't youhear the rain peltin' on the canvas? Besides, the Yanks are comin' up,too. I done heard the boomin' o' cannon off there toward the rear."

  "Oh, why wasn't I called! Here I am sleeping away, and the enemy isalready in touch with us!"

  "Don't you worry any 'bout that, sonny. Don't you be so anxious to gitinto a fight, 'cause you'll have plenty of chances when you can't keepout o' it. 'Sides, Gin'ral Jackson ain't been expectin' you. We're upnear the head o' the line an' 'bout an hour ago when we was startin'a whiskered man on a little sorrel hoss rid up an' said: 'Which o' mystaff have you got in there? I remember 'signin' one to you last night.'I bows very low an' I says: 'Gin'ral Jackson, I don't know his name. Hewas too sleepy to give it, but he's a real young fellow, nice an' quiet.He ain't give no trouble at all. He's been sleepin' so hard I think hehas pounded his ear clean through one o' them bags o' meal.' Gin'ralJackson laughs low an' just a little, and then he takes a peek into thewagon. 'Why, it's young Harry Kenton!' he says
. 'Let him sleep on tillhe wakes. He deserves it!' Then he lets fall the canvas an' he upsan' rides away. An' if I was in your place, young Mr. Kenton, I'd feelmighty proud to have Stonewall Jackson say that I deserved more rest."

  "I am proud, but I've got to go now. I don't know where I'll find myhorse."

  "I know, an' what's more I'll tell. An orderly came back with himsaddled an' bridled an' he's hitched to this here wagon o' mine.Good-bye, Mr. Kenton, I'm sorry you're goin' 'cause you've been a nice,pleasant boarder, sayin' nothin' an' givin' no trouble."

  Harry thanked him, and then in an instant was out of the wagon and onhis horse. It required only a few minutes to overtake Jackson and hisstaff, who were riding soberly along in the rain. He noticed with reliefthat he was not the last to join the chief. Two or three others came uplater. Jackson nodded pleasantly to them all as they came.

  But the morning was gloomy in the extreme. Harry was glad to shelterhimself with the heavy cavalry cloak from the cold rain. All the skieswere covered with sullen clouds, and the troops trudged silently onin deep mud. Now and then a wind off the mountains threshed the rainsharply into their faces. From the rear came the deep, sullen mutterwhich Harry so readily recognized as the sound of the big guns. SamMartin was right. The enemy was most decidedly "in touch."

  Dalton handed Harry some cold food and he ate it in the saddle. Jacksonrode on saying nothing, his head bowed a little, his gaze far away. Theofficers of his staff were also silent. Jackson after a while reined hishorse out of the road, and his staff, of course, followed. The troopsfiled past and Jackson said:

  "We will soon pass the Gap in the Massanuttons, and Shields cannot comeout there ahead of us. That danger is left behind."

  "What of the junction between Shields and Fremont, General?" asked oneof the older officers.

  Jackson cast one glance at the somber heavens.

  "Providence favors us," he said. "The south fork of the Shenandoah flowsbetween Fremont and Shields. It is swollen already by the rains and therushing torrents from the mountains, and if I read the skies right we'regoing to have other long and heavy rains. They can't ford the Shenandoahand they can't stop to bridge it. It will be a long time before they canbring a united force against us."

  But while he spoke the mutter of the guns grew louder. Jackson listenedattentively a long time, and then sent several of his staff officers tothe rear with orders to the cavalry, the Invincibles under Talbot, andone other regiment to hold the enemy off at all costs. As Harry gallopedback the mutter of the cannon grew into thunder. There was also thesharper crash of rifle fire. Presently he saw the flash of the firingand numerous spires of smoke rising.

  His own message was to the Invincibles and he delivered the brief noteto Colonel Talbot, who read it quickly and then tore it up.

  "Stay with us a while, Harry," he said, "and you can then report morefully to the general what is going on. They crowd us hard. Look howtheir sharpshooters are swarming in the woods and fields yonder."

  An orchard to the left of the road and only a short distance away wasfilled with the Union riflemen. Running from tree to tree and along thefences they sent bullets straight into the ranks of the Invincibles.Four guns were turned and swept the orchard with shell, but the warysharpshooters darted to another point, and again came the hail ofbullets. Colonel Talbot bade his weary men turn, but at the moment,Sherburne, with a troop of cavalry, swept down on the riflemen and sentthem flying. Harry saw Colonel Talbot's lips moving, and he knew that hewas murmuring thanks because Sherburne had come so opportunely.

  "We're not having an easy time," he said to Harry. "They press us hard.We drive them back for a time, and they come again. They have fieldguns, too, and they are handled with great skill. If I do not mistakegreatly, they are under the charge of Carrington, who, you remember,fought us at that fort in the valley before Bull Run, John Carrington,old John Carrington, my classmate at West Point, a man who wouldn't hurta fly, but who is the most deadly artillery officer in the world."

  Harry remembered that famous duel of the guns in the hills and ColonelTalbot's admiration of his opponent, Carrington. Now he could see itshining in his eyes as strongly as ever.

  "Why are you so sure, colonel, that it's Carrington?" he asked.

  "Because nobody else could handle those field guns as he does. Hebrings 'em up, sends the shot and shell upon us, then hitches up likelightning, is away before we can charge, and in a minute or two isfiring into our line elsewhere. Trust Carrington for such work, and I'mglad he hasn't been killed. John's the dearest soul in the world, asgentle as a woman. Down! Down! all of you! There are the muzzles of hisguns in the bushes again!"

  Colonel Talbot's order was so sharp and convincing that most of theInvincibles mechanically threw themselves upon their faces, just as fourfield pieces crashed and the shell and shrapnel flew over their heads.That rapid order had saved them, but the officers on horseback werenot so lucky. A captain was killed, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire wasgrazed on the shoulder, and the horse of Colonel Talbot was killed underhim.

  But Colonel Talbot, alert and agile, despite his years, sprang clearof the falling horse and said emphatically to his second in command,Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire:

  "The last doubt is gone! It's Carrington as sure as we live!"

  Then he gave a quick order to his men to rise and fire with the rifles,but the woods protected the gunners, and, when Sherburne with hiscavalry charged into the forest, Carrington and his guns were gone.

  Colonel Talbot procured another horse, and the Invincibles, sore of bodyand mind, resumed their slow and sullen retreat. Harry left them androde further along the front of the rear guard. Under the somber skiesand in the dripping rain there was a long line of flashing rifles andthe flaming of big guns at intervals.

  Fremont was pushing the pursuit and pushing it hard. Harry recognizedanew the surpassing skill of Jackson in keeping his enemies separated bymountains and streams, while his own concentrated force marched on. Hefelt that Fremont would hold Jackson in battle if he could until theother Northern armies came up, and he felt also that Jackson wouldlead Fremont beyond a junction with the others and then turn. Yet theseNorthern men were certainly annoying. They did not seem to mind defeats.Here they were fighting as hard as ever, pursuing and not pursued.

  Harry, turning to the left, saw a numerous body of cavalry under Ashby,supported by guns also, and he joined them. Ashby on his famous whitehorse was riding here and there, exposing himself again and again to thefire of the enemy, who was pressing close. He nodded to Harry, whom heknew.

  "You can report to General Jackson," he said, "that the enemy iscontinually attacking, but that we are continually beating him off."

  Just as he spoke a trumpet sounded loud and clear in the edge of a woodonly three or four hundred yards away. There was a tremendous shout frommany men, and then the thunder of hoofs. A cavalry detachment, more thana thousand strong, rushed down upon them, and to right and left of thehorse, regiments of infantry, supported by field batteries, chargedalso.

  The movement was so sudden, so violent and so well-conceived thatAshby's troops were swept away, despite every effort of the leader, whogalloped back and forth on his white horse begging them to stand. Sopowerful was the rush that the cavalry were finally driven in retreatand with them the Invincibles.

  Some of the troops, worn by battles and marches until the will weakenedwith the body, broke and ran up the road. Harry heard behind him thetriumphant shouts of their pursuers and he saw the Northern bayonetsgleaming as they came on in masses. Ashby was imploring his men to standbut they would not. The columns pressing upon them were too heavy andthey scarcely had strength enough left to fight.

  More and yet more troops came into battle. The Northern success for thetime was undoubted. The men in blue were driving in the Southern rearguard, and Ashby was unable to hold the road.

  But the two colonels at last succeeded in drawing the Invincibles acrossthe turnpike, where they knelt in good order and
sent volley aftervolley into the pursuing ranks. Fremont's men wavered and then stopped,and Ashby, upbraiding his horsemen and calling their attention to theresolute stand of the infantry, brought them into action again. Infantryand cavalry then uniting, drove back the Northern vanguard, and, for thetime being, the Southern rear guard was safe once more.

  But the Invincibles and the cavalry were almost exhausted. Harry foundSt. Clair wounded, not badly, but with enough loss of blood for ColonelTalbot to send him to one of the wagons. He insisted that he wasstill fit to help hold the road, but Colonel Talbot ordered two of thesoldiers to put him in the wagon and he was compelled to submit.

  "We can't let you die now from loss of blood, you young fire-eater,"said Colonel Talbot severely, "because you may be able to serve usbetter by getting killed later on."

  St. Clair smiled wanly and with his formal South Carolina politenesssaid:

  "Thanks, sir, it helps a lot when you're able to put it in such asatisfactory way."

  Harry, who was unhurt, gave St. Clair a strong squeeze of the hand.

  "You'll be up and with us again soon, Arthur," he said consolingly, andthen he rode away to Ashby.

  "You may tell General Jackson that we can hold them back," said thecavalry leader grimly. "You have just seen for yourself."

  "I have, sir," replied Harry, and he galloped away from the rear. Buthe soon met the general himself, drawn by the uncommonly heavy firing.Harry told him what had happened, but the expression of Jackson's facedid not change.

  "A rather severe encounter," he said, "but Ashby can hold them."

  All that day, nearly all that night and all the following day Harrypassed between Jackson and Ashby or with them. It was well for theVirginians that they were practically born on horseback and were trainedto open air and the forests. For thirty-six hours the cavalry were inthe saddle almost without a break. And so was Harry. He had forgottenall about food and rest. He was in a strange, excited mood. He seemed tosee everything through a red mist. In all the thirty-six hours the crashof rifles or the thud of cannon ceased scarcely for a moment. It went onjust the same in day or in night. The Northern troops, although led byno such general as Stonewall Jackson, showed the splendid stuff of whichthey were made. They were always eager to push hard and yet harder.

  The Southern troops burnt the bridges over the creeks as they retreated,but the Northern men waded through the water and followed. The cloudsof cavalry were always in touch. A skirmish was invariably proceedingat some point. Toward evening of the second day's pursuit, they came toMount Jackson, to which they had retreated once before, and there wentinto camp in a strong place.

  But the privates themselves knew that they could not stay there long.They might turn and beat off Fremont's army, but then they would haveto reckon with the second army under Shields and the yet heavier massesthat McDowell was bringing up. But Jackson himself gave no signof discouragement. He went cheerfully among the men, and saw thatattention, as far as possible at such a time, was given to their needs.Harry hunted up St. Clair and found him with a bandaged shoulder sittingin his wagon. He was sore but cheerful.

  "The doctor tells me, Harry, that I can take my place in the line inthree more days," he said, "but I intend to make it two. I fancy that weneed all the men we can get now, and that I won't be driven back to thiswagon."

  "If I were as well fixed as you are, Arthur," said Langdon, who appearedat this moment on the other side of the wagon, "I'd stay where I was.But it's so long since I've been hauled that I'm afraid the luxury wouldoverpower me. Think of lying on your back and letting the world floatpeacefully by! Did I say 'think of it'? I was wrong. It is unthinkable.Now, Harry, what plans has Old Jack got for us?"

  "I don't know."

  "Well, he'll get us out of this. We're sure of that. But when? That'sthe question."

  The question remained without an answer. Early the next morning theywere on the march again under lowering skies. The heavens from horizonto horizon were a sodden gray and began to drip rain. Harry was sentagain to the rear-guard, where Ashby's cavalry hung like a curtain,backed by the Invincibles and one or two other skeleton regiments.

  Harry joined Sherburne and now the drip of the rain became a steadybeat. Chilling winds from the mountains swept over them. He hadpreserved through thick and thin, through battle and through march thatbig cavalry cloak, and now he buttoned it tightly around him.

  He saw down the road puffs of smoke and heard the lashing fire ofrifles, but it did not make his pulses beat any faster now. He had grownso used to it that it seemed to be his normal life. A bullet fired froma rifle of longer range than the others plumped into the mud at the feetof his horse, but he paid no attention to it.

  He joined Sherburne, who was using his glasses, watching through theheavy, thick air the Northern advance. The brilliant young cavalryman,while as bold and enduring as ever, had changed greatly in the last twoor three weeks. The fine uniform was stained and bedraggled. Sherburnehimself had lost more than twenty pounds and his face was lined andanxious far more than the face of a mere boy of twenty-three should havebeen.

  "I think they'll press harder than ever," said Sherburne.

  "Why?"

  "The Shenandoah river, or rather the north fork of it, isn't far ahead.They'd like to coop us up against it and make us fight, while theirarmy under Shields and all their other armies--God knows how many theyhave--are coming up."

  "The river is bridged, isn't it?"

  "Yes, but it takes a good while to get an army such as ours, loaded downwith prisoners and spoil, across it, and if they rushed us just when wewere starting over it, we'd have to turn and give battle. Jupiter, howit rains! Behold the beauties of war, Harry!"

  The wind suddenly veered a little, and with it the rain came hard andfast. It seemed to blow off the mountains in sheets and for a moment ortwo Harry was blinded. The beat of the storm upon leaves and earthwas so hard that the cracking of the rifles was dulled and deadened.Nevertheless the rifle fire went on, and as well as Harry could judge,without any decrease in violence.

  "Hear the bugles now!" said Sherburne. "Their scouts are warning them ofthe approach to the Shenandoah. They'll be coming up in a minute or twoin heavier force. Ah, see, Ashby understands, too! He's massing the mento hold them back!"

  The rain still poured with all the violence of a deluge, but theNorthern force, horse and cannon, pushed forward through the mud andopened with all their might. Ashby's cavalry and the infantry in supportreplied. There was something grim and awful to Harry in this fight inthe raging storm. Now and then, he could not see the flame of the firingfor the rain in his eyes. By a singular chance a bullet cut the buttonof his cloak at the throat and the cloak flew open there. In a minute hewas soaked through and through with water, but he did not notice it.

  The cavalry, the Invincibles and the other regiments were making adesperate stand in order that the army might cross the bridge of theShenandoah. Harry was seized with a sort of fury. Why should these mentry to keep them from getting across? It was their right to escape.Presently he found himself firing with his pistols into the great pillarof fire and smoke and rain in front of him. Mud splashed up by thehorses struck him in the face now and then, and stung like gunpowder,but he began to shout with joy when he saw that Ashby was holding backthe Northern vanguard.

  Ahead of him the Southern army was already rumbling over the bridge,while the swollen and unfordable waters of the Shenandoah raced beneathit. But the Northern brigades pressed hard. Harry did not know whetherthe rain helped them or hurt them, but at any rate it was terriblyuncomfortable. It poured on them in sheets and sheets and the earthseemed to be a huge quagmire. He wondered how the men were able to keeptheir ammunition dry enough to fire, but that they did was evident fromthe crash that went on without ceasing.

  "In thinking of war before I really knew it," said Harry, "I neverthought much of weather."

  "Does sound commonplace, but it cuts a mighty big figure I can tell you.If it hadn't rained so har
d just before Waterloo Napoleon would have gotup his big guns more easily, winning the battle, and perhaps changingthe history of the world. Confound it, look at that crowd pushingforward through the field to take us in the flank!"

  "Western men, I think," said Harry. "Here are two of our field guns,Sherburne! Get 'em to throw some grape in there!"

  It was lucky that the guns approached at that moment. Their commander,as quick of eye as either Harry or Sherburne, unlimbered and swept backthe western men who were seeking to turn their flank. Then Sherburne,with a charge of his cavalry, sent them back further. But at the call ofAshby's trumpet they turned quickly and galloped after Jackson's army,the main part of which had now passed the bridge.

  "I suppose we'll burn the bridge after we cross it," said Harry.

  "Of course."

  "But how on earth can we set fire to it with this Noah's flood comingdown?"

  "I don't know. They'll manage it somehow. Look, Harry, see the flamesbursting from the timbers now. Gallop, men! Gallop! We may get our facesscorched in crossing the bridge, but when we're on the other side itwon't be there for the Yankees!"

  The Invincibles and the other infantry regiments all were advancing atthe double quick, with the cavalry closing up the rear. Behind them manybugles rang and through the dense rain they saw the Northern cavalryleaders swinging their sabers and cheering on their men, and they alsosaw behind them the heavy masses of infantry coming up.

  Harry knew that it was touch-and-go. The bulk of the army was across,and if necessary they must sacrifice Ashby's cavalry, but that sacrificewould be too great. Harry had never seen Ashby and his gallant captainsshow more courage. They fought off the enemy to the very last and thengalloped for the bridge, under a shower of shell and grape and bullets.Ashby's own horse was killed under him, falling headlong in the mud,but in an instant somebody supplied him with a fresh one, upon whichhe leaped, and then they thundered over the burning bridge, Ashby andSherburne the last two to begin the crossing.

  Harry, who was just ahead of Ashby and Sherburne, felt as if the flameswere licking at them. With an involuntary motion he threw up his handsto protect his eyes from the heat, and he also had a horrible sensationlest the bridge, its supporting timbers burned through, should fall,sending them all into the rushing flood.

  But the bridge yet held and Harry uttered a gasp of relief as the feetof his horse struck the deep mud on the other side. They galloped on fortwo or three hundred yards, and then at the command of Ashby turned.

  The bridge was a majestic sight, a roaring pyramid that shot forthclouds of smoke and sparks in myriads.

  "How under the sun did we cross it?" Harry exclaimed.

  "We crossed it, that's sure, because here we are," said Sherburne. "Iconfess myself that I don't know just how we did it, Harry, but it'squite certain that the enemy will never cross it. The fire's too strong.Besides, they'd have our men to face."

  Harry looked about, and saw several thousand men drawn up to dispute thepassage, but the Northern troops recognizing its impossibility at thattime, made no attempt. Nevertheless their cannon sent shells curvingover the stream, and the Southern cannon sent curving shells in reply.But the burning bridge roared louder and the pyramid of flame rosehigher. The rain, which had never ceased to pour in a deluge, merelyseemed to feed it.

  "Ah, she's about to go now," exclaimed Sherburne.

  The bridge seemed to Harry to rear up before his eyes like a livingthing, and then draw together a mass of burning timbers. The next momentthe whole went with a mighty crash into the river, and the blazingfragments floated swiftly away on the flood. The deep and rapidShenandoah flowed a barrier between the armies of Jackson and Fremont.

  "A river can be very beautiful without a bridge, Harry, can't it?" saida voice beside him.

  It was St. Clair, a heavy bandage over his left shoulder, but a smokingrifle in his right hand, nevertheless.

  "I couldn't stand it any longer, Harry," he said. "I had to get up andjoin the Invincibles, and you see I'm all right."

  Harry was compelled to laugh at the sodden figure, from which the rainran in streams. But he admired St. Clair's spirit.

  "It was by a hair's breadth, Arthur," he said.

  "But we won across, just the same, and now I'm going back to that wagonto finish my cure. I fancy that we'll now have a rest of six or eighthours, if General Jackson doesn't think so much time taken from war amere frivolity."

  The Southern army drew off slowly, but as soon as it was out of sightthe tenacious Northern troops undertook to follow. They attempted tobuild a bridge of boats, but the flood was so heavy that they were sweptaway. Then Fremont set men to work to rebuild the bridge, which theycould do in twenty-four hours, but Jackson, meanwhile, was using everyone of those precious hours.