ng every advantage of such shelter,
the Northern companies checked the Southern advance as much as was
humanly possible. Many of them were good riflemen, particularly those
from Ohio, and the cavalry of Ashby, Funsten and Sherburne found the
woods very warm for them. Horses were falling continually, and often
their riders fell with them to stay.

Harry, in the center with the commander, heard the heavy firing to both
right and left, and he glanced often at Jackson. He saw his lips move as
if he were talking to himself, and he knew that he was disappointed at
this strong resistance. Troops could move but slowly through woods in
the face of a heavy rifle fire, and meanwhile Banks with his main body
was escaping to Winchester.

"Mr. Kenton," said Jackson sharply, "ride to General Ashby and tell him
to push the enemy harder! We must crush at least a portion of this army!
It is vital!"

Harry was off as soon as the last words left the general's lips. He
spurred his horse from the turnpike, leaped a low rail fence, and
galloped across a field toward a forest, where Ashby's cavalry were
advancing and the rifles were cracking fast.

Bullets from the Northern skirmishers flew over him and beside him, as
he flew about the field, but he thought little of them. He was growing
so thoroughly inured to war that he seldom realized the dangers until
they were passed.

Neither he nor his horse was hurt--their very speed, perhaps, saved them
and they entered the wood, where the Southern cavalry were riding.

"General Ashby!" he cried to the first man he saw. "Where is he? I've a
message from General Jackson!"

The soldier pointed to a figure on horseback but a short distance away,
and Harry galloped up.

"General Jackson asks you to press the enemy harder!" he said to Ashby.
"He wishes him to be driven in rapidly!"

A faint flush came into the brown cheeks of Ashby.

"He shall be obeyed," he replied. "We're about to charge in full force!
Hold, young man! You can't go back now! You must charge with us!"

He put his hand on Harry's rein as he spoke, and the boy saw that a
strong force of Northern cavalry had now appeared in the fields directly
between him and his general. Ashby turned the next instant to a bugler
at his elbow and exclaimed fiercely:

"Blow! Blow with all your might!"

The piercing notes of the charge rang forth again and again. Ashby,
shouting loudly and continuously and waving his sword above his head,
gal