t, could never get a chance at the Northern
recruits, unless you rode first over Carrington's guns. From whatever
point you approached their muzzles would be sure to face you."

"The colonel is undoubtedly right about his friend Carrington," said
St. Clair to Harry and Langdon. "I guess those guns scared us more
than anything else."

Stuart and his command left them about midnight. A brilliant moon and a
myriad of stars made the night so bright that Harry saw for a long time
the splendid man on the splendid horse, leading his men to some new
task. Then he lay down and slept heavily until dawn. They remained in
the fort two days longer, and then came an order from Beauregard for
them to abandon it, and rejoin the main army. The shifting of forces
had now made the place useless to either side, and the Invincibles and
their new comrades gladly marched back over the mountain and into the
lowlands.

Harry found a letter from his father awaiting him. Colonel Kenton was
now in Tennessee, where he had been joined by a large number of recruits
from Kentucky. He would have preferred to have his son with him,
but he was far from sure of his own movements. The regiment might yet
be sent to the east. There was great uncertainty about the western
commanders, and the Confederate resistance there had not solidified as
it had in the east.

Harry expected prompt action on the Virginia field, but it did not come.
The two armies lay facing each other for many days. June deepened and
the days grew hot. Off in the mountains to the west there were many
skirmishes, with success divided about equally. So far as Harry could
tell, these encounters meant nothing. Their own battle at the fort
meant nothing, either. The fort was now useless, and the two sides
faced each other as before. Some of the Invincibles, however, were
gone forever. Harry missed young comrades whom he had learned to like.
But in the great stir of war, when one day in its effects counted as ten,
their memories faded fast. It was impossible, when a boy was a member
of a great army facing another great army, to remember the fallen long.
Although the long summer days passed without more fighting, there was
something to do every hour. New troops were arriving almost daily and
they must be broken in. Intrenchments were dug and abandoned for new
intrenchments elsewhere, which were abandoned in their turn for
intrenchments yet newer. They moved to successive c