ncovered heads. He was put upon
a bed there, and Harry, a staff officer, was selected to ride to Jackson
with the news. He would gladly have evaded the errand, but it was
obvious that he was the right messenger.

He rode slowly and found Jackson coming up with the main force, Dr.
McGuire, his physician, and Colonel Crutchfield, his chief of artillery,
riding on either side of him. The general gave one glance at Harry's
drooping figure.

"Well," he said, "have we not won the victory? From a hilltop our
glasses showed the enemy in flight."

"Yes, general," said Harry, taking off his hat, "we defeated the enemy,
but General Ashby is dead."

Jackson and his staff were silent for a moment, and Harry saw the
general shrink as if he had received a heavy blow.

"Ashby killed! Impossible!" he exclaimed.

"It's true, sir. I helped to carry his body to a house in Port Republic,
where it is now lying."

"Lead us to that house, Mr. Kenton," said Jackson.

Harry rode forward in silence, and the others followed in the same
silence. At the house, after they had looked upon the body, Jackson
asked to be left alone awhile with all that was left of Turner Ashby.
The others withdrew and Harry always believed that Jackson prayed within
that room for the soul of his departed comrade.

When he came forth his face had resumed its sternness, but was without
other expression, as usual.

"He will not show grief, now," said Sherburne, "but I think that his
soul is weeping."

"And a bad time for Fremont and Shields is coming," said Harry.

"It's a risk that we all take in war," said Dalton, who was more of a
fatalist than any of the others.

The chief wrote a glowing official tribute to Ashby, saying that his
"daring was proverbial, his powers of endurance almost incredible, his
character heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the
purposes and movements of the enemy." Yet deeply as Harry had been
affected by Ashby's death, it could not remain in his mind long, because
they had passed the Massanuttons now, and Fremont and Shields following
up the valley must soon unite.

Harry believed that Jackson intended to strike a blow. The situation
of the Confederacy was again critical--it seemed to Harry that it was
always critical--and somebody must wield the sword, quick and strong.
McClellan with his great and well-trained army was before Richmond. It
was only the rapid marches and lightning strokes of Jackson that had
ke