n cavalry were trying to keep them from laying bridges across
the Potomac he wanted to help drive them away.

Harry and Dalton had a right as aides and messengers of Lee to ride with
Sherburne, but before they joined him they rode among the Invincibles,
who were in great feather, because they too, for the time being, rode,
and toiled in neither dust nor mud.

"Colonel Sherburne may think a good deal of his own immediate troop,"
said St. Clair to Harry, "but if the men of the Invincibles could achieve
so much on foot they'll truly deserve their name on horseback. Where is
this enemy of ours? Lead us to him."

"You'll find him soon enough," said Harry. "You South Carolina talkers
have learned many times that the Yankees will fight."

"Yes, Harry, I admit it freely. But you must admit on your part that the
South Carolinians will fight as well as talk, although at present most of
the South Carolinians in this regiment are Virginians."

"But not our colonel and lieutenant-colonel," said Happy Tom. "Real old
South Carolina still leads."

"May they always lead!" said Harry heartily, looking at the two gray
figures.

"Tell Colonel Sherburne," said Happy Tom, who was in splendid spirits,
"that we congratulate him on his promotion and are ready to obey him
without question."

"All right. He'll be glad to know that he has your approval."

"He might have the approval of worse men. I feel surging within me the
talents of a great general, but I'm too young to get 'em recognized."

"You'll have to wait until the sections are not fighting each other,
but are united against a common foe. But meanwhile I'll tell Colonel
Sherburne that if he gets into a tight pinch not to lose heart as you are
here."

Saluting Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, Harry and
Dalton rode to the head of the column, where Sherburne led. They ate
their breakfast on horseback, and went swiftly down a valley in the
general direction of the Potomac. The dawn had broadened into full
morning, clear and bright, save for a small cloud that hung low in the
southwest, which Sherburne noticed with a frown.

"That's a little cloud and it looks innocent," he said to Harry, "but I
don't like it."

"Why not?"

"Because in the ten minutes that I've been watching it I've been able to
notice growth. I'm weather-wise and we may have more rain. More rain
means a higher Potomac. A higher Potomac means more difficulty in
crossing it. Mo