.

The strong grip of their hands still thrilled his blood as he rode away.
His pass carried him through the Southern lines, and then he went toward
the northwest, intending to pass through the hills, and reach the rear
of the Northern force. He carried no rifle, and his gray uniform,
somewhat faded now, would not attract distant attention. Still, he did
not care to be observed even by non-combatants, and he turned his horse
into the first stretch of forest that he could reach.

Harry, being young, felt the full importance of his errand, but it was
vague in its nature. He was to follow his own judgment and discover
what was going on between the Northern army and Washington, no very
great distance. When he was well hidden within the forest he stopped
and considered. He might meet Federal scouts on errands like his own,
but the horse they had given him was a powerful animal, and he had
good weapons in his belt. It was Virginia soil, too, and the people,
generally, were in sympathy with the South. He relied upon this fact
more than upon any other.

The belt of forest into which he had ridden, ran along the crest of
a hill, where the soil evidently had been considered too thin for
profitable cultivation. Yet the growth of trees and bushes was heavy,
and Harry decided to keep in the middle of it, as long as it continued
northward in the direction in which he was going. He found a narrow
path among the trees, and with his hand on a pistol butt he rode
along it.

He expected to meet some one, but evidently the war had driven away all
who used the path, and he continued in a welcome silence and desolation.
Coming from an army where he always heard many sounds, this silence
impressed him at last. Here in the woods there was a singular peace.
The June sun had been hot that year in Virginia, but in the sheltered
places the leaves were not burned. A moist, fresh greenness enclosed
him and presently he heard the trickle of running water.

He came to a little brook, not more than a foot wide and only two or
three inches deep, but running joyfully over its pebbly bottom. Both
Harry and his horse drank of the water, which was cold, and then they
went with the stream, which followed the slow downward slope of the hill
toward the north. After a mile, he turned to the edge of the forest and
looked over the valley. He caught his breath at the great panorama of
green hills and of armies upon them that was spread out befor