cabins, a smithy, a mountain school--now there were only blackened
chimneys. The men panted as they climbed; the wind howled along the
crest, the snow began to swirl. At a turn of the road where had been a
cabin, high upon the bank above the men, stood a mountain woman, her
linsey skirt wrapped about her by the wind, her thick, pale Saxon hair
lifted and carried out to its full length, her arms raised above her
head. "Air ye going against them? Air ye going against them? The
lightning go with ye--and the fire go with ye--and the hearts of your
mothers go with ye! Oh-h!--Oh-h-h-h!--Oh-h! Shoot them down!"

It was as though Jersey would never be overpassed. There grew before the
men's eyes, upon the treeless plateau which marked the summit, a small
country church and graveyard. Inexpressibly lonely they looked against
the stormy sky, lonely and beckoning. From company to company ran a
statement. "When you get to that church you're just three miles from
Romney." Up and up they mounted. The cavalry and advance guard, seen for
a moment against a level horizon, disappeared beyond the church, over
the brink of the hill. The main column climbed on through the wind and
the snow; the rear came far behind. The Stonewall Brigade led the main
body. As it reached the crest of Jersey, a horse and rider, a courier of
Jackson's coming from the west, met it, rose in his stirrups, and
shouted, "The damned vandals have gone! The Yankees have gone! They've
gotten across the river, away to Cumberland! You weren't quick enough.
General Jackson says, 'By God, you are too slow!'" The courier even in
his anger caught himself. "_I_ say, 'By God!' General Jackson says, 'You
are too slow.' They've gone--only Ashby at their heels! They've left
their stores in Romney, but they've gone, every devil of them! By God,
General Jackson says, 'you should have marched faster!'"

He was gone, past the brigade, on to Loring's with his tidings. The
Stonewall Brigade left behind the graveyard and the church and began the
long descent. At first a great flame of anger kept up the hearts of the
men. But as they marched, as they toiled down Jersey, as the realization
of the facts pressed upon them, there came a change. The enemy had been
gone from Bath; the enemy had been inaccessible at Hancock; now the
enemy was not at Romney. Cumberland! Cumberland was many a wintry mile
away, on the other side of the Potomac. Here, here on Jersey, there were
cold, hunger, weari