ould soon melt away. Gradually the gray
shredded off and then the ridges were tipped with silver which soon
turned to gold. Dawn rushed down over the valley and the pleasant
forests and fields sprang into light.

Then they heard hoofbeats behind them coming fast. The experienced ears
of both told them that it was only a single horseman who came, and,
drawing their pistols, they turned their horses across the road. When
the rider saw the two threatening figures he stopped, but in a moment he
rode on again. They were in gray and so was he.

"Why, it's Chris Aubrey of the general's own staff!" exclaimed Dalton.
"Don't you know him, Harry?"

"Of course I do. Aubrey, we're friends. It's Dalton and Kenton."

Aubrey dashed his hands across his eyes, as if he were clearing a
mist from them. He was worn and weary, and his look bore a singular
resemblance to that of despair.

"What is it, Chris?" asked Dalton with sympathy.

"I was sent down the Luray Valley to learn what I could and I discovered
that Ord was advancing with ten thousand men on Front Royal, where
General Jackson left only a small garrison. I'm going as fast as my
horse can take me to tell him."

"We're on the same kind of a mission, Chris," said Harry. "We've seen
the vanguard of Shields, ten thousand strong coming through Manassas
Gap, and we also are going as fast as our horses can take us to tell
General Jackson."

"My God! Does it mean that we are about to be surrounded?"

"It looks like it," said Harry, "but sometimes you catch things that you
can't hold. George and I never give up faith in Old Jack."

"Nor do I," said Aubrey. "Come on! We'll ride together! I'm glad I met
you boys. You give me courage."

The three now rode abreast and again they galloped. One or two early
farmers going phlegmatically to their fields saw them, but they passed
on in silence. They had grown too used to soldiers to pay much attention
to them. Moreover, these were their own.

The whole valley was now flooded with light. To east and to west loomed
the great walls of the mountains, heavy with foliage, cut here and there
by invisible gaps through which Harry knew that the Union troops were
pouring.

They caught sight of moving heads on a narrow road coming from the west
which would soon merge into theirs. They slackened speed for a moment or
two, uncertain what to do, and then Aubrey exclaimed:

"It's a detachment of our own cavalry. See their gray uniforms, and
tha