a great deal for a fellow on horseback to
do. Here, take your share, and they'll help out that dry bread you're
munching."

Dick accepted with thanks. He learned that he, too, could eat with a
good appetite while bullets were knocking up dust only twenty yards
away. Meanwhile there was a steady flash of firing from every wood and
cornfield behind them.

As he ate he watched and he saw an amazing panorama. Miles in front
the great cloud of dust, cutting across from horizon to horizon swelled
slowly on toward the Rappahannock. Behind them rode the Southern cavalry
and masses of infantry were pressing forward, too. Far off on either
flank rolled the pleasant country, its beauty heightened by the loom of
blue mountains.

Colonel Winchester had predicted truly. The fighting between the
Northern rearguard, and the Southern vanguard never ceased. Every moment
the bullets were whistling, and occasionally a cannon lent its deep roar
to the crackling fire of the rifles. Daring detachments of the Southern
cavalry often galloped up and charged lagging regiments. And they were
driven off with equal courage and daring.

The three boys took especial notice of those cavalry bands and began
to believe at last that they could identify the very men in them. Dick
looked for his cousin, Harry Kenton. He was sure that he would be there
in the front--but he did not see him. Instead he saw after a while an
extraordinary figure on a large black horse, a large man in magnificent
uniform, with a great plume in his hat. He was nearer to them than any
other Southern horseman, and he seemed to be indifferent to danger.

"Look! look! There's Jeb Stuart!" exclaimed Dick. He had heard so
much about the famous Stuart and his gorgeous uniform that he knew him
instinctively, and, Warner and Pennington, as their eyes followed his
pointing finger felt the same conviction.

Three of the Northern riflemen fired at once at the conspicuous target,
and Dick breathed a little sigh of relief when all their bullets missed.
Then the brilliant figure turned to one side and was lost in the smoke.

"Well," said Pennington. "We've seen Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart
both in battle against us. I wonder who will come next."

"Lee is due," said Warner, "but I doubt whether his men will let him
expose himself in such a way. We'll have to slip under cover to get a
chance of seeing him."

The hours went on, and the fight between rear guard and vanguard never
cea