through the darkness,
and the horses of the Union cavalry were driven to the utmost.

Neither Dick nor his companions felt exhaustion. Their excitement was
too great, and the taste of triumph was too strong. They had seen no
such victory before, and eager and willing they still led the advance.
Midnight passed and the pursuit never ceased until it reached Woodstock,
ten miles from Fisher's Hill. By that time Sheridan's infantry was
exhausted, and as Early was beginning to draw together the remains of his
force he would prove too strong for the cavalry alone.

At dawn the army of Sheridan stopped, the troopers almost falling from
their horses in exhaustion, while Early used the opportunity to escape
with what was left of his men, leaving behind many prisoners and twenty
cannon. Yet the triumph had been great, and again, when the telegraph
brought the news of it, the swell of victory passed through the North.

The Winchester regiment was drawn up near Woodstock, already dismounted,
the men standing beside their horses. The camp cooks were lighting the
fires for breakfast, but many of the young cavalrymen fell asleep first.
Dick managed to keep awake long enough for his food, and then, at the
order of the colonel, he slept on the ground, awaiting the command of
Sheridan which might come at any moment.

CHAPTER X

AN UNBEATEN FOE

Dick's belief that he would not be allowed to sleep long was justified.
In three or four hours the whole Winchester regiment was up, mounted and
away again. Early and his army left the great valley pike, and took a
road leading toward the Blue Ridge, where he eventually entered a gap,
and fortified to await supplies and fresh men from Richmond, leaving all
the great Valley of Virginia, where in former years the Northern armies
had suffered so many humiliations, in the possession of Sheridan.
It was the greatest and most solid triumph that the Union had yet
achieved and Dick and the youths with him rejoiced.

After many days of marching and fighting they lay once more in the shadow
of the mountains, within a great grove of oak and beech, hickory and
maple. The men and then the horses had drunk at a large brook flowing
near by, and both were content. The North, as always, sent forward food
in abundance to its troops, and now, just as the twilight was coming,
the fires were lighted and the pleasant aromas of supper were rising.
Colonel Winchester and his young staff sat by one