on their soil, it
was expected that they would pour forward in thousands, relieved from
the fear of Northern armies.

Alarm, deep and intense, spread all through the North. McClellan, as
usual, doubled Lee's numbers but he organized with all speed to meet
him. Dick heard that Lee was already at Frederick, giving his troops
a few days' repose before meeting any enemy who might come. The utmost
confidence reigned in the South.

McClellan marched, but he advanced slowly. The old mystery and
uncertainty about the Southern army returned. It suddenly disappeared
from Frederick, and McClellan became extremely cautious. He had nearly
a hundred thousand men, veterans now, but he believed that Lee had two
hundred thousand.

Colonel Winchester again complained bitterly to Dick, who was a comrade
as well as an aide.

"What we need," he said, "is a general who doesn't see double, and we
haven't got him yet. We must spend less time counting the rebels and
more hammering them."

"A civilian in Washington told me that," said Dick. "I believed then
that he was right, and I believe it yet. If General Grant were here he'd
attack instead of waiting to be attacked."

But the Army of the Potomac continued to march forward in a slow and
hesitating fashion. Dick, despite his impatience, appreciated the
position of General McClellan. No one in the Union army or in the
North knew the plans of Lee and Jackson. Lee had not even consulted the
President of the Confederacy but had merely notified him that he was
going into Maryland.

Now Lee and Jackson had melted away again in the mist that so often
overhung their movements. McClellan could not be absolutely sure they
intended an important invasion of Maryland. They might be planning to
fall upon the capital from another direction. The Union commander must
protect Washington and at the same time look for his enemy.

The army marched near the Potomac, and Dick, as he rode with his
regiment, saw McClellan several times. It had not been many months since
he took his great army by sea for what seemed to be the certain capture
of Richmond, but McClellan, although a very young man for so high a
position, had already changed much. His face was thinner, and it seemed
to Dick that he had lost something of his confident look. The awful
Seven Days and his bitter disappointment had left their imprint.
Nevertheless he was trim, neat and upright, and always wore a splendid
uniform. An unfailing favori