and Harry saw clearly that these veterans of the valley were
tremulous with excitement. Youthful, eager, and used to victory, they
were anxious to be at the very center of affairs which were now on a
gigantic scale. And the throbbing of the distant guns steadily drew them
on.

"We'll get all we want before this is through," said Dalton gravely to
Harry.

"I think so, too. Listen to those big guns, George! And I think I can
hear the crack of rifles, too. Our pickets and those of the enemy must
be in contact in the forest there on our left."

"I haven't a doubt of it, but if we rode that way like as not we'd
strike first a swamp, or a creek twenty feet deep. I get all tangled up
in this kind of a country."

"So do I, but it doesn't make any difference. We just stick along with
Old Jack."

The army marched on a long time, always to the accompaniment of that
sinister mutter in the southeast. Then they heard the note of a bugle
in front of them and Jackson with his staff rode forward near a little
church called Walnut Grove, where Lee and his staff sat on their horses
waiting. Harry noticed with pride how all the members of Lee's staff
crowded forward to see the renowned Jackson.

It was his general upon whom so many were looking, but there was
curiosity among Stonewall's men, too, about Lee. As Harry drew back a
little while the two generals talked, he found himself again with the
officers of the Invincibles.

"He has grown gray since we were with him in Mexico, Hector," he heard
Colonel Leonidas Talbot say to Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire.

"Yes, Leonidas, grayer but stronger. What a brow and eye!"

St. Clair and Langdon, who had never seen Lee before, were eager.

"Is he the right man for Old Jack to follow, Harry?" asked Happy Tom.

"I don't think there's any doubt of it, Happy. I saw how they agreed the
first time they met, and you can see it now. You'll find them working
together as smooth as silk. Ah, here we go again!"

"Then if it's as you say I suppose it's all up with McClellan, and I
needn't trouble my mind about the matter any more. Hereafter I'll just
go ahead and obey orders."

The words were light, but there was no frivolity in the minds of the
three. Despite the many battles through which they had already gone
their hearts were beating hard just then, while that roaring was going
on on the horizon, and they knew that a great battle was at hand.

Lee and his staff rode toward the batt