he face of so much
eloquence and logic, "but I don't want you fellows to be captured."

Dalton and Harry dismounting, gave the reins of their horses into the
hands of Billy, and the small fingers clutched them tightly.

"Stay exactly where you are, Billy," said Harry. "We want to find you
without trouble when we come back."

"I'll be here," said Billy proudly.

Harry and Dalton began the descent through the bushes and trees. They
had not the slightest doubt that this was the vanguard of the Northern
army which they heard was ten thousand strong, and that this force was
merely a vanguard for McDowell, who had nearly forty thousand men. But
they knew too well to go back to Stonewall Jackson with mere surmise,
however plausible.

"We've got to find out some way or other whether their army is certainly
at hand," whispered Dalton.

Harry nodded, and said:

"We must manage to overhear some of their talk, though it's risky
business."

"But that's what we're here for. They don't seem to be very watchful,
and as the woods and bushes are thick about 'em we may get a chance."

They continued their slow and careful descent. Harry glanced back once
through an opening in the bushes and saw little Billy, holding the reins
of the three horses and gazing intently after them. He knew that among
all the soldiers of Jackson's army, no matter how full of valor and zeal
they might be, there was not one who surpassed Billy in eagerness to
serve.

They reached the bottom of the slope, and lay for a few minutes hidden
among dense bushes. Both had been familiar with country life, they had
hunted the 'possum and the coon many a dark night, and now their forest
lore stood them in good stead. They made no sound as they passed among
the bushes and trailing vines, and they knew that they were quite secure
in their covert, although they lay within a hundred yards of one of the
fires.

Harry judged that most of the men whom they saw were city bred. It was
an advantage that the South had over the North in a mighty war, waged in
a country covered then mostly with forest and cut by innumerable rivers
and creeks, that her sons were familiar with such conditions, while many
of those of the North, used to life in the cities, were at a loss, when
the great campaigns took them into the wilderness.

Both he and Dalton, relying upon this knowledge, crept a little closer,
but they stopped and lay very close, when they saw a man advancing to a
hill