s to do without wasting time in parade
work. There is very little of that here, I can tell you. I have not seen
a score of my men together for the last month."

Vincent gazed with admiration at the young leader, whose name was soon
to be celebrated throughout America and Europe. The young Virginian--for
he was not yet twenty-eight years old--was the _beau ideal_ of a cavalry
officer. He was singularly handsome, and possessed great personal
strength and a constitution which enabled him to bear all hardships. He
possessed unfailing good spirits, and had a joke and laugh for all he
met; and while on the march, at the head of his regiment, he was always
ready to lift up his voice and lead the songs with which the men made
the woods resound.

He seemed to live in his saddle, and was present at all hours of the
night and day along the line he guarded, seeing that the men were
watchful and on the alert, instructing the outposts in their duty, and
infusing his own spirit and vigilance among them. He had been educated
at West Point, and had seen much service with the cavalry against the
Indians in the West. Such was the man who was to become the most famous
cavalry leader of his time. So far he had not come in contact with the
enemy, and his duties were confined to obtaining information regarding
their strength and intentions, to watching every road by which they
could advance, and to seeing that none passed North to carry information
to the enemy as to the Confederate strength and positions, for even in
the Shenandoah Valley there were some whose sympathies were with the
Federals.

These were principally Northern men settled as traders in the towns, and
it was important to prevent them from sending any news to the enemy. So
well did Stuart's cavalry perform this service, and so general was the
hostility of the population against the North, that throughout the whole
of the war in Virginia it was very seldom that the Northern generals
could obtain any trustworthy information as to the movements and
strength of the Confederates, while the latter were perfectly informed
of every detail connected with the intentions of the invaders.

The next morning Ashley's troop took up their share of the work at the
front. They were broken up into parties of ten, each of which was
stationed at a village near the river, five men being on duty night and
day. As it happened that none of the other men in his squad had a
servant at the front, Vin