s hands. The leader was the first to notice him and gave the
order to halt. The whole command stopped with beautiful precision,
the ranks remaining even. Then the leader, looking more than ever like
a mediaeval knight, rode slowly forward on his great black horse to meet
the youth who was running to meet him.

When Harry came near he saw that the man was young, under thirty.
He gazed steadily at the boy out of deep blue eyes, and his hair and
beard rippled like molten gold under the light breeze.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Kenton, Henry Kenton, and I am a lieutenant in the regiment
of the Invincibles, commanded by Colonel Leonidas Talbot! We were sent
to take a fort on the other side of the mountain and took it, but the
regiment is besieged there by a much larger Northern force, and I came
through in the night for help."

The man stroked his golden beard and a light leaped up in his eye.
Any dandyish or foppish quality that he might have seemed to have
disappeared at once, and Harry saw only the soldier.

"Ah, I have heard of this expedition," he said, "and so the Invincibles
are in a trap. We had started on another errand, but we will go to the
relief of Colonel Talbot. My name is Stuart, lad, J. E. B. Stuart,
and this is my command."

It was Harry's first meeting with the famous Jeb Stuart, the most
picturesque of all the Southern cavalry leaders, although not superior
to the illiterate man of genius, Forrest. Stuart inspired supreme
confidence in him. His manner, the very brilliancy of his clothes,
seemed to say that here was one who would dare anything.

"We have some extra horses," said Stuart, "you shall mount one and guide
us."

"The country is very difficult for cavalry," said Harry. "The slopes
are steep and are wooded heavily."

"For ordinary cavalry, yes," replied Stuart, proudly, "but these
horsemen of mine can go anywhere. But we will not rely upon cavalry
alone. I will send two men at full speed to the main army for infantry
reinforcements. Meanwhile, we will hurry forward."

Mounted on a good horse, Harry felt like a new being, and his spirits
rose rapidly as the whole troop set off at a swift pace. He rode by the
side of Stuart, who asked him many questions. Harry saw that he was not
only brilliant and dashing, but thorough. He was planning to relieve
Colonel Talbot, but he had no intention of dashing into a trap.

Soon they were deep in the hills and here they pic