hem themselves."

"I believe you're right, George. And since Burnside is not crossing
to-night, he can't attack in the morning."

"Of course not. Lee and Jackson knew all the time that he'd waste a
day. They knew it by the way he delayed at Antietam, and they've been
reading his mind all the time he's been sitting here on the banks of the
Rappahannock. They knew just where he'd attack, just when, too, and
they'll have everything ready at the right point and at the right time."

"Of course they will."

They were but boys, and the great tactics and brilliant victories of Lee
and Jackson had overwhelmed the imaginations of both. In their minds
all things seemed possible to their leaders, and they had not the least
fear about the coming battle.

They walked back toward their general's tent and saw him sitting on a
log outside. The night was not so dark as the one before. A fair moon
and clusters of modest stars furnished some light. The general was
gazing toward Stafford Heights, tapping his bootleg at times with a
little switch. But he turned his gaze upon the two boys as they came
forward and saluted respectfully.

"Well, lads," he said in a voice of uncommon gentleness, "what have you
seen?"

"Nothing, sir, but the river and the dark shore beyond," replied Dalton.

"But the enemy will cross to-morrow, and they say they will annihilate
us."

"I think, sir, that they will recross the Rappahannock as fast as they
will cross it."

Dalton spoke boldly, because he saw that Jackson was leading him on.

"The right spirit," said Jackson quietly. "I see it throughout the army,
and so long as it prevails we cannot lose."

Then he turned his glasses again toward the river and paid them no
further attention. Officers of greater age and much higher rank came
near, but he ignored them also. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed
in the searching examination that he was making of the river and the
opposite shore. Harry and Dalton watched him a little while and then
went back to the shelter of the ridge, where, sitting with their backs
against the earth, they, too, took up the task of watching.

The earth was frozen hard now, but toward morning they saw the fog
rising again.

"It will cover the river, the far shore, and what's left of the town,"
said Dalton, "but what do we care? They'll be protected by it as they
advance on the bridges, but they wouldn't dare move through it to attack
us here on the heights