ion, withdrew.
Lee himself came in time. Hill, overcome by illness and old wounds,
was compelled to give up the command of his division, and Early took his
place. Longstreet also was still suffering severely from his injuries.
Lee had but few of the able and daring generals who had served him in
so many fields. But Stuart, the gay and brilliant, the medieval knight
who had such a strong place in the commander-in-chief's affections, was
there. Nor was his plumage one bit less splendid. The yellow feather
stood in his hat. There was no speck or stain on the broad yellow sash
and his undimmed courage was contagious.

But Harry with his sensitive and imaginative mind, that leaped ahead,
knew their situation to be desperate. His opinion of Grant had proved to
be correct. Although he had found in Lee an opponent far superior to any
other that he had ever faced, the Union general, undaunted by his repulse
and tremendous losses in the Wilderness, was preparing for a new battle,
before the fire from the other had grown cold.

He knew too that another strong Union army was operating far to the south
of them, in order to cut them off from Richmond, and scouts had brought
word that a powerful force of cavalry was about to circle upon their
flank. The Confederacy was propped up alone by the Army of Northern
Virginia, which having just fought one great battle was about to begin
another, and by its dauntless commander.

The Southern admiration for Lee, both as the general and as the man,
can never be shaken. How much greater then was the effect that he
created in the mind of impressionable youth, looking upon him with
youth's own eyes in his moments of supreme danger! He was in very truth
to Harry another Hannibal as great, and better. The long list of his
triumphs, as youth counted them, was indeed superior to those of the
great Carthaginian, and he believed that Lee would repel this new danger.

Nearly all that day the two armies constructed breastworks which stood
for many years afterward, but neither made any attempt at serious work,
although there was incessant firing by the skirmishers and an occasional
cannon shot. Harry, whether carrying an order or not, had ample chance
to see, and he noted with increasing alarm the growing masses of the
Union army, as they gathered along the Spottsylvania front.

"Can we beat them?" "Can we beat them?" was the question that he
continually asked himself. He wondered too whe