weather to drive him to a tent. Meanwhile he sat by a small fire--
the October nights were growing cold--and talked with Peyton and other
members of his staff.

Harry and Dalton decided to imitate his example and sleep between the
blankets under the pines. Harry found a soft place, spread his blankets
and in a few minutes slept soundly. In fact, the whole Army of Northern
Virginia was a great family that retired early, slept well and rose early.

The next morning there was frost on the grass, but the lads were so hardy
that they took no harm. The autumn deepened. The leaves blazed for a
while in their most vivid colors and then began to fall under the strong
west winds. Brown and wrinkled, they often whirled past in clouds.
The air had a bite in it, and the soldiers built more and larger fires.

The Army of Northern Virginia never before had been quiescent so long.
The Army of the Potomac was not such a tremendous distance away, but
it seemed that neither side was willing to attack, and as the autumn
advanced and began to merge into winter the minds of all turned toward
the Southwest.

For the valiant soldiers encamped on the Virginia hills the news was not
good. Grant, grim and inflexible, was deserving the great name that was
gradually coming to him. He had gathered together all the broken parts
of the army defeated at Chickamauga and was turning Union defeat into
Union victory.

Winter closed in with the knowledge that Grant had defeated the South
disastrously on Lookout Mountain and all around Chattanooga. Chickamauga
had gone for nothing, the whole flank of the Confederacy was turned and
the Army of Northern Virginia remained the one great barrier against the
invading legions of the North. Yet the confidence of the men in that
army remained undimmed. They felt that on their own ground, and under
such a man as Lee, they were invincible.

In the course of these months Harry, as a messenger and often as a
secretary, was very close to Lee. He wrote a swift and clear hand,
and took many dispatches. Almost daily messages were sent in one
direction or another and Harry read from them the thoughts of his leader,
which he kept locked in his breast. He knew perhaps better than many an
older officer the precarious condition of the Confederacy. These letters,
which he took from dictation, and the letters from Richmond that he read
to his chief, told him too plainly that the limits of the Confederacy
were