Stonewall Jackson made his headquarters in a quiet home, shaded with
trees and with flowers in the yard. Sunday evening the lady of the house
sent a servant to the room where he sat with his chief of staff. "Ole
Miss, she say, gineral, dat she hope fer de honour ob yo' brekfastin'
wif her--"

The general rolled a map and tied it with a bit of pink tape. "Tell Mrs.
Harris, with my compliments, that if I am here at breakfast time I shall
be most happy to take it with her."

"Thank you, sah. An' what hour she say, gineral, will suit you bes'?"

"Tell her, with my compliments, that I trust she will breakfast at the
usual hour."

Morning came and breakfast time. "Ole Miss" sent to notify the general.
The servant found the room empty and the bed unslept in--only the
dictionary and Napoleon's Maxims (the Bible was gone) on the table to
testify to its late occupancy. Jim, the general's body servant, emerged
from an inner room. "Gineral Jackson? Fo' de Lawd, niggah! yo' ain't
looking ter fin' de gineral heah at dis heah hour? He done clar out
'roun' er bout midnight. Reckon by now he's whipping de Yankees in de
Valley!"

In the dark night, several miles from Frederickshall, two riders, one
leading, one following, came upon a picket. "Halt!" There sounded the
click of a musket. The two halted.

"Jest two of you? Advance, number one, and give the countersign!"

"I am an officer bearing dispatches--"

"That air not the point! Give the countersign!"

"I have a pass from General Whiting--"

"This air a Stonewall picket. Ef you've got the word, give it, and ef
you haven't got it my hand air getting mighty wobbly on this gun!"

"I am upon an important mission from General Jackson--"

"It air not any more important than my orders air! You get down from
that thar horse and mark time!"

"That is not necessary. Call your officer of guard."

"Thank you for the sug-ges-tion," said Billy politely. "And don't you
move while I carry it out!" He put his fingers to his lips and whistled
shrilly. A sergeant and two men came tumbling out of the darkness. "What
is it, Maydew?"

"It air a man trying to get by without the countersign."

The first horseman moved a little to one side. "Come here, sergeant!
Have you got a light? Wait, I will strike a match."

He struck it, and it flared up, making for an instant a space of light.
Both the sergeant and Billy saw his face. The sergeant's hand went up to
his cap with an involuntary jer