arry, and he galloped away from the rear. But
he soon met the general himself, drawn by the uncommonly heavy firing.
Harry told him what had happened, but the expression of Jackson's face
did not change.

"A rather severe encounter," he said, "but Ashby can hold them."

All that day, nearly all that night and all the following day Harry
passed between Jackson and Ashby or with them. It was well for the
Virginians that they were practically born on horseback and were trained
to open air and the forests. For thirty-six hours the cavalry were in
the saddle almost without a break. And so was Harry. He had forgotten
all about food and rest. He was in a strange, excited mood. He seemed to
see everything through a red mist. In all the thirty-six hours the crash
of rifles or the thud of cannon ceased scarcely for a moment. It went on
just the same in day or in night. The Northern troops, although led by
no such general as Stonewall Jackson, showed the splendid stuff of which
they were made. They were always eager to push hard and yet harder.

The Southern troops burnt the bridges over the creeks as they retreated,
but the Northern men waded through the water and followed. The clouds
of cavalry were always in touch. A skirmish was invariably proceeding
at some point. Toward evening of the second day's pursuit, they came to
Mount Jackson, to which they had retreated once before, and there went
into camp in a strong place.

But the privates themselves knew that they could not stay there long.
They might turn and beat off Fremont's army, but then they would have
to reckon with the second army under Shields and the yet heavier masses
that McDowell was bringing up. But Jackson himself gave no sign
of discouragement. He went cheerfully among the men, and saw that
attention, as far as possible at such a time, was given to their needs.
Harry hunted up St. Clair and found him with a bandaged shoulder sitting
in his wagon. He was sore but cheerful.

"The doctor tells me, Harry, that I can take my place in the line in
three more days," he said, "but I intend to make it two. I fancy that we
need all the men we can get now, and that I won't be driven back to this
wagon."

"If I were as well fixed as you are, Arthur," said Langdon, who appeared
at this moment on the other side of the wagon, "I'd stay where I was.
But it's so long since I've been hauled that I'm afraid the luxury would
overpower me. Think of lying on your back and lettin