them that they would march again in half an hour.

"General Banks," he said with bitter irony, "is afraid that a powerful
force of the rebels will gain his rear and that we shall be surrounded.
He ought to know. He has had enough dealings with Jackson. Outmaneuvered
and outflanked again! Why can't we learn something?"

But he said this to the young officers only. He forced a cheerfulness
of tone when he spoke to the men, and they dragged themselves wearily
to their feet in order to begin the retreat. But though the muscles
were tired the spirit was not unwilling. All the omens were sinister,
pointing to the need of withdrawal. The vicious skirmishers were still
busy and a crackling fire came from many points in the woods. The
occasional rolling thunder of a cannon deepened the somberness of the
scene.

All the officers of the regiment had lost their horses and they walked
now with the men. A full moon threw a silvery light over the marching
troops, who strode on in silence, the wounded suppressing their groans.
A full moon cast a silvery light over the pallid faces.

"Do you know where we are going?" Dick asked of the Vermonter.

"I heard that we're bound for a place called Culpeper Court House,
six or seven miles away. I suppose we'll get there in the morning, if
Stonewall Jackson doesn't insist on another interview with us."

"There's enough time in the day for fighting," said Pennington, "without
borrowing of the night. Hear that big gun over there on our right! Why
do they want to be firing cannon balls at such a time?"

They trudged gloomily on, following other regiments ghostly in the
moonlight, and followed by others as ghostly. But the sinister omens,
the flash of rifle firing and the far boom of a cannon, were always on
their flanks. The impression of Jackson's skill and power which Dick had
gained so quickly was deepening already. He did not have the slightest
doubt now that the Southern leader was pressing forward through the
woods to cut them off. As the sergeant had said truly, he came up to
his advertisements and more. Dick shivered and it was a shiver of
apprehension for the army, and not for himself.

In accordance with human nature he and the boy officers who were his
good comrades talked together, but their sentences were short and
broken.

"Marching toward a court house," said Pennington. "What'll we do when we
get there? Lawyers won't help us."

"Not so much marching toward a court house a