rge, pines and bushes lining the summits
and crests. The confined air here was closer and hotter than ever, but
the men pressed on with undiminished speed.

Harry Kenton felt a certain awe as he rode behind Jackson, and looked
up at the lofty cliffs that enclosed them. The pines along the summit on
either side were like long, green ribbons, and he half feared to see
men in blue appear there and open fire on those in the gorge below. But
reason told him that there was no such danger. No Northern force could
be on Bull Run Mountain.

Harry had not asked a question during all that march. He had not
known where they were going, but like all the soldiers he had supreme
confidence in Jackson. He might be going to any of a number of places,
but the place to which he was going was sure to be the right place.
Now as he rode in the pass he knew that they were bound for the rear of
Pope's army. Well, that would be bad for Pope! Harry had no doubt of it.

They passed out of the gap, leaving the mountain behind them, and swept
on through two little villages, and over the famous plateau of Manassas
Junction which many of them had seen before in the fire and smoke of the
war's first terrible day. Here were the fields and hills over which
they had fought and won the victory. Harry recognized at once the places
which had been burned so vividly into his memory, and he considered it a
good omen.

Not so far away was Washington, and so strongly was Harry's imagination
impressed that he believed he could have seen through powerful glasses
and from the crest of some tall hill that they passed, the dome of the
Capitol shining in the August sun. He wondered why there was no attack,
nor even any alarm. The cloud of dust that so many thousands of marching
men made could be seen for miles. He did not know that Sherburne and the
fastest of the rough riders were now far in front, seizing every Union
scout or sentinel, and enabling Jackson's army to march on its great
turning movement wholly unknown to any officer or soldier of the North.
Soon he would stand squarely between Pope and Washington.

Before noon, Stuart and his wild horsemen joined them and their spirits
surged yet higher. All through the afternoon the march continued, and
at night Jackson fell upon Pope's vast store of supplies, surprising and
routing the guard. Taking what he could use he set fire to the rest and
the vast conflagration filled the sky.

Night came with Jackson st