us that every one of
those hours was a day long."

"But it's a lot to get from the general an admission that you may be
even a little tired," said Dalton. "Remember the man for whom you ride."

"That's so," said Aubrey, "and I oughtn't to have said what I did. We've
got to live up to new standards."

Sherburne, Aubrey and Dalton picked out soft spots on the grass and
almost instantly were sound asleep, but Harry lingered a minute or two
longer. He saw across the river the glitter of bayonets and the dark
muzzles of cannon. He also saw many troops moving on the hills and he
knew that he was looking upon the remains of Banks' army reinforced by
fresh men, ready to dispute the passage or fight Jackson if he marched
northward in any other way, while the great masses of their comrades
gathered behind him.

Harry felt again for a moment that terrible sinking of the heart which
is such close kin to despair. Enemies to the north of them, enemies to
the south of them, and to the east and to the west, enemies everywhere.
The ring was closing in. Worse than that, it had closed in already and
Stonewall Jackson was only mortal. Neither he nor any one else could
lead them through the overwhelming ranks of such a force.

But the feeling passed quickly. It could not linger, because the band
of the Acadians was playing, and the dark men of the Gulf were singing.
Even with the foe in sight, and a long train of battles and marches
behind them, with others yet worse to come, they began to dance, clasped
in one another's arms.

Many of the Acadians had already gone to a far land and they would never
again on this earth see Antoinette or Celeste or Marie, but the sun of
the south was in the others and they sang and danced in the brief rest
allowed to them.

Harry liked to look at them. He sat on the grass and leaned his back
against a tree. The music raised up the heart and it was wonderfully
lulling, too. Why worry? Stonewall Jackson would tell them what to do.

The rhythmic forms grew fainter, and he slept. He was awakened the
next instant by Dalton. Harry opened his eyes heavily and looked
reproachfully at his friend.

"I've slept less than a minute," he said.

Dalton laughed.

"So it seemed to me, too, when I was awakened," he said, "but you've
slept a full two hours just as I did. What do you expect when you're
working for Stonewall Jackson. You'll be lucky later on whenever you get
a single hour."

Harry brushed the tra