ere were
Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire on
horseback, looking very proud and eager. Further away were Langdon and
St. Clair also mounted, but Harry could not see the expression on their
faces.

"Tell Colonel Talbot to have the charge sounded and then to attack with
all his might," said Jackson to his young aide.

Harry carried the order eagerly and rejoined the general at once. The
drums of the Invincibles beat the charge, and on both sides of them the
drums of other regiments played the same tune. Then the drum-beat was
lost in that wild and thrilling shout, the rebel yell, more terrible
than the war-whoop of the Indians, and the whole brigade rushed forward
in a vast half-circle that enclosed the village between the two horns of
the curve.

The scattered firing of the pickets was lost in the great shout of the
South, and, by the time the Northern sentinels could give the alarm to
their main body, the rush of Jackson's men was upon them, clearing out
the woods and fields in a few instants and driving the Union horsemen in
swift flight northward.

Harry kept close to his general. He saw a spark of fire shoot from the
blue eye, and the nostrils expand. Then the mask became as impenetrable
as ever. He let the reins fall on the neck of Little Sorrel, and watched
his men as they swept into the open, passed the warehouse, and followed
the enemy into the forest beyond.

But the bugles quickly sounded the recall. It was not Jackson's purpose
to waste his men in frays which could produce little. The pursuing
regiments returned reluctantly to the open where the inhabitants of the
village were welcoming Jackson with great rejoicings. The encounter had
been too swift and short to cause great loss, but all the stores were
saved and Captain Sherburne and Captain McGee rode forward to salute
their commander.

"You made a good defense," said Stonewall Jackson, crisply and briefly.
"We begin the removal of the stores at once. Wagons will come up shortly
for that purpose. Take your cavalry, Captain Sherburne, and scout the
country. If they need sleep they can get it later when there is nothing
else to do."

Captain Sherburne saluted and Harry saw his face flush with pride. The
indomitable spirit of Jackson was communicated fast to all his men. The
sentence to more work appealed to Sherburne with much greater force than
the sentence of rest could have done. In a moment he and his men were
off,