asked why they were sent to do a thing--they had absolute confidence in
the one who sent them to do it.

The great excitement of Jackson in his new uniform passed and the boys
resumed their luxurious quarters on the leaves beside the Opequon.
Sherburne, who had left them a while, returned, riding a splendid bay
horse, which he tethered to a bush before rejoining them.

"That's not the horse I saw you riding at Antietam, Captain," said
Langdon. "I counted that fellow's ribs, and none show in this one.
It's no business of mine, but I want to know where you got that fine
brute."

"No, it's none of your business, Tom," replied Sherburne, as he settled
himself comfortably, "you haven't anything in the world to do with it,
but that's no reason why you shouldn't ask and I shouldn't answer."

"Drop the long-winded preliminaries, then, and go ahead."

"I got him on a wild ride with the general, General Stuart. What a
cavalryman! I don't believe there was ever such another glutton for
adventure and battle. General Lee wasn't just sure what McClellan meant
to do, and he ordered General Stuart to pick his men and go see.

"The general took six hundred of us, and four light guns, and we crossed
the Potomac at dawn. Then we rode straight toward the north, exchanging
shots here and there with Northern pickets. We went across Maryland and
clear up into Pennsylvania, a hundred miles it must have been, I think,
and at a town called Chambersburg we got a great supply of Yankee stores,
including five hundred horses, which came in mighty handy, I can tell
you. I got Bucephalus there. He's a fine steed, too, I can tell you.
He was intended to carry some fat Pennsylvania colonel or major, and
instead he has me for a rider, a thinner and consequently a lighter man.
I haven't heard him expressing any sorrow over the exchange."

"What did you do after you got the remounts?" asked Harry.

"We began to curve then. We passed a town called Gettysburg, and we
went squarely behind the Union army. Mountainous and hilly country up
there, but good and cultivated beautifully. Those Pennsylvania Germans,
Harry, beat us all hollow at farming. I'm beginning to think that
slaves are not worth owning. They ruin our land."

"Which may be so," interrupted Langdon, "but we're not the kind of
people to give them up because a lot of other people order us to do it."

"Shut up, Tom," exclaimed Harry. "Let the captain go on with his story."