hment advanced we'd open up on it with a
masked battery from the woods, and if pickets showed their noses too
close horsemen were after them in a second. We've had them worried to
death for days and days, and when they do come in force Old Jack will
have something up his sleeve."

"I wonder," said Harry.

CHAPTER VII. ON THE RIDGES

As they rode in the shadow of the Massanuttons Harry continued
to wonder. The whole campaign in the valley had become to him an
interminable maze. Stonewall Jackson might know what he intended to do,
but he was not telling. Meanwhile they marched back and forth. There was
incessant skirmishing between cavalry and pickets, but it did not seem
to signify anything. Banks, sure of his overwhelming numbers, pressed
forward, but always cautiously and slowly. He did not march into any
trap. And Harry surmised that Jackson, much too weak to attack, was
playing for time.

Sherburne and his troop paused at the very base of the Massanuttons
and Harry, who happened to be with them, looked up again at the lofty
summits standing out so boldly and majestically in the middle of the
valley. The oaks and maples along their slopes were now blossoming into
a green that matched the tint of the pines, but far up on the crests
there was still a line of snow, and white mists beyond.

"Why not climb the highest summit?" he said to Sherburne. "You have
powerful glasses and we could get a good view of what is going on up the
valley."

"Most of those slopes are not slopes at all. They're perpendicular like
the side of a house. The horses could never get up."

"But they can certainly go part of the way, and some of us can climb the
rest on foot."

Sherburne's eyes sparkled. The spirit of adventure was strong within
him. Moreover the task, if done, was worth while.

"Good for you, Harry," he exclaimed. "We'll try it! What do you say, St.
Clair, you and Langdon?"

"I follow where you lead, and I hope that you lead to the top of the
mountain," replied St. Clair.

"Likely it's cold up there," said Langdon, "but there are higher and
colder mountains and I choose this one."

They had learned promptness and decision from Stonewall Jackson, and
Sherburne at once gave the order to ascend. Several men in his troop
were natives of that part of the valley, and they knew the Massanuttons
well. They led and the whole troop composed of youths followed eagerly.
Bye and bye they dismounted and led their horses ov