o had been
sent along the line, returned to Colonel Talbot where Harry was still
waiting.

"They're not going as fast as a railroad train," said Langdon in an
aside to Harry, "but they're doing their best. You can't put in a well
more than you can take out of it, and they're marching now not on their
strength, but their courage. Still, it might be worse. We might all be
dead."

"But we're not dead, by a big margin, and I think we'll make another
haul at Romney."

"But Old Jack won't let us stay and enjoy it. I never saw a man so much
in love with marching. The steeper the hills and mountains, the colder
the day, the fiercer the sleet and snow, the better he likes it."

"The fellow who said General Jackson didn't care anything about our feet
told the truth," said St. Clair, thoughtfully. "The general is not a
cruel man, but he thinks more of Virginia and the South, and our cause,
than he does of us. If it were necessary to do so to win he'd sacrifice
us to the last man and himself with us."

"And never think twice before doing it. You've sized him up," said
Harry. The army poured into Romney and found no enemy. Again a garrison
had escaped through the mountain snows when the news reached it that
Jackson was at hand. But they found supplies of food, filled their empty
stomachs, and as Langdon had foretold, quickly started anew in search of
another enemy elsewhere.

But the men finally broke down under the driving of the merciless
Jackson. Many of them began to murmur. They had left the bleeding trail
of their feet over many an icy road, and some said they were ready to
lie down in the snow and die before they would march another mile. A
great depression, which was physical rather than mental, a depression
born of exhaustion and intense bodily suffering, seized the army.

Jackson, although with a will of steel, was compelled to yield. Slowly
and with reluctance, he led his army back toward Winchester, leaving
a large garrison in Romney. But Harry knew what he had done, although
nothing more than skirmishes had been fought. He had cleared a wide
region of the enemy. He had inspired enthusiasm in the South, and he had
filled the North with alarm. The great movement of McClellan on Richmond
must beware of its right flank. A dangerous foe was there who might
sting terribly, and men had learned already that none knew when or
whence Jackson might come.

A little more than three weeks after their departure Harry and his