Stonewall Jackson of the North. Young, eager, brave, he never fell into
the fault some of the other Union commanders had of overestimating the
enemy. He always had a cheery word for his young officers, and when he
was not poring over the maps with his lieutenant of engineers, Meigs,
he was inspecting his troops, and seeing that their equipment and
discipline were carried to the highest pitch. He was the very essence
of activity and the army, although not yet moving, felt at all times the
tonic of his presence.

Cavalry detachments were sent out on a wider circle. Slade and his men
had no opportunity to come so close again, but Shepard informed Dick that
he was in the mountains hemming in the valley on the west, and that the
statement of his having formed a junction with a band under Skelly from
the Alleghanies was true. He had seen the big man and the little man
together and they had several hundred followers.

Shepard in these days showed an almost superhuman activity. He would
leave the camp, disguised as a civilian, and after covering a great
distance and risking his life a dozen times he would return with precious
information. A few hours of rest and he was gone again on a like errand.
He seemed to be burning with an inward fire, not a fire that consumed him,
but a fire of triumph. Dick, who had formed a great friendship with him
and who saw him often, had never known him to speak more sanguine words.
Always cautious and reserved in his opinions, he talked now of the
certainty of victory. He told them that the South was not only failing
in men, having none to fill up its shattered ranks, but that food also
was failing. The time would come, with the steel belt of the Northern
navy about it and the Northern armies pressing in on every side, when the
South would face starvation.

But a day arrived when there were signs of impending movements in the
great Northern camp. Long columns of wagons were made ready and orders
were issued for the vanguard of cavalry to start at an appointed time.
Then, to the intense disappointment of the valiant young troops, the
orders were countermanded and the whole army settled back into its
quarters. Dick, who persistently refused to be a grumbler, knew that a
cause must exist for such an action, but before he could wonder about it
long Colonel Winchester told him, Warner and Pennington to have their
horses saddled, and be ready to ride at a moment's notice.

"We're to be