Southern riflemen reloaded, but did not pursue. The regiments
which had done the deadly work sank back in the woods, and seemingly the
battle was over.

Harry had not been under fire. He and Dalton, the rest of Jackson's
staff and the general himself merely watched. Nor did Jackson give any
further orders to his able lieutenant, Ewell. He allowed him to make the
battle his own, and in Harry's opinion he was making it right.

There came a silence that seemed interminably long to Harry. The
sunlight blazed down, and the two armies stood looking at each other
across a field that was strewn with the fallen. It would have been folly
for the men in blue to charge again, and it was the chief business of
the Southern troops to hold them back. Therefore they stood in their
positions and watched. Harry judged that the bulk of Fremont's army was
not yet up. It was this failure to bring superior numbers to bear at
the right time that was always the ruin of the Northern generals in the
valley, because the genius on the other side invariably saw the mistake
and profited by it.

Harry and Dalton still waited, wondering. Jackson himself sat quietly on
his horse, and issued no order. The Northern troops were motionless, and
Harry, who knew how precious time was, with the rest of Fremont's army
coming up, wondered again. But Trimble, the commander of the Southern
riflemen hidden in the wood, saw a chance. He would send his men under
cover of the forest and hurl them suddenly upon the Northern flank.
Ewell gave his consent, and said that he would charge, too, if the
movement were successful.

Harry, watching, saw the Southern regiments in the wood steal from the
forest, pass swiftly up a ravine, and then, delivering a shattering fire
at short range, charge with the bayonet upon the Northern flank. The men
in blue, surprised by so fierce an onset, gave way. Uttering the rebel
yell, the Southerners followed and pushed them further and further.
Ewell's quick eye, noting the success, sent forward his own center in a
heavy charge.

Fremont, from the rear, hurried forward new troops, but they were beaten
as fast as they arrived. The batteries were compelled to unlimber and
take to flight, the fresh brigade dispatched by Fremont was routed,
and the whole Southern line pressed forward, driving the Northern army
before it.

"General Jackson was wise in trusting to General Ewell," said Dalton to
Harry. "He's won a notable victory. I wonder