the
battle.

General Jackson had no orders for him at present, and Harry watched with
extraordinary fascination the battle which was unrolling itself in film
after film before him. He saw a stone fence running down the center of
a field, and then he saw beyond it a great mass of Northern infantry
advancing with bayonets shining and colors waving. From his own side a
regiment was running toward it.

Who would reach the fence first? The pulses in Harry's temple beat so
hard that they hurt. He could not take his eyes from that terrible race,
a race of human beings, a race of life and death. The sun blazed down
on the rival forces as they sped across the field. But the Southerners
reached the wall first. Not in vain had Jackson trained his foot cavalry
to march faster anywhere than any other troops in the world.

Harry saw the Virginians sink down behind the fence, the crest of which
a moment later blazed with fire for a long distance. He saw the whole
front line of the Northern troops disappear, while those behind were
thrown into confusion. The Southerners poured in a second volley before
they could recover and the whole force broke and retreated. Other troops
were brought up but in the face of everything the Virginians held the
fence.

But Shields was an able officer. Moreover he and Jackson had been
thrown together in former years, and he knew him. He divined some of the
qualities of Jackson's mind, and he felt that the Southern general, the
field being what it was, was going to push hardest at the center. He
accumulated his own forces there in masses that increased continually.
He had suffered a wound the previous day in a skirmish, and he could not
be at the very front, but he delivered his orders through Kimball, who
was in immediate command upon the field. Five regiments in reserve were
suddenly hurled forward and struck the Confederates a tremendous blow.

Harry saw these regiments emerge from the woods and thickets and he saw
the gray lines reel before them. Jackson, pointing toward this new and
furious conflict, said to Harry:

"Jump on the horse there and tell the officer in command that he must
stand firm at all hazards!"

Harry sprang upon a horse not his own, and galloped away. The moment he
came into view the western riflemen began to send bullets toward him.
His horse was struck, but went on. Another bullet found him, and then a
third, which was mortal. Harry leaped clear of the second horse that
h