y there were several couriers--No! staff officers, the
65th saw the gold lace--with some message or order from the commanding
general, now well in advance with his guard of Black Horse. They were
riding down the line--Old Jack was with them--the 4th and the 27th were
cheering like mad. The colonel of the 65th rode forward. There was a
minute's parley, then he turned, "Sixty-fifth! It isn't a fox hunt--it's
a bear hunt! 'General Johnston to the 65th'--" He broke off and waved
forward the aide-de-camp beside him. "Tell them, Captain Washington,
tell them what a terror to corn-cribs we're going after!"

The aide, a young man, superbly mounted, laughed, raised his voice.
"Sixty-fifth! The Army of the Valley is going through Ashby's Gap to
Piedmont, and from Piedmont by rail to Manassas Junction. General Stuart
is still at Winchester amusing General Patterson. At Manassas our
gallant army under General Beauregard is attacked by McDowell with
overwhelming numbers. The commanding general hopes that his troops will
step out like men and make a forced march to save the country!"

He was gone--the other staff officers were gone--Old Jack was gone. They
passed the shouting 65th, and presently from down the line came the
cheers of the 2d, 21st, and 33d Virginia. Old Jack rode back alone the
length of his brigade; and so overflowing was the enthusiasm of the men
that they cheered him, cheered lustily! He touched his old forage cap,
went stiffly by upon Little Sorrel. From the rear, far down the road,
could be heard the voices of Bee, Bartow, and Elzey. Ardour, elasticity,
strength returned to the Army of the Shenandoah. With a triumphant cry
the First Brigade wheeled into the road that led eastward through the
Blue Ridge by Ashby's Gap.

Two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock came and passed. Enthusiasm
carried the men fast and far, but they were raw troops and they
suffered. The sun, too, was enthusiastic, burning with all its might.
The road proved neither cool nor shady. All the springs seemed suddenly
to have dried up. Out of every hour there was a halt of ten minutes, and
it was needed. The men dropped by the roadside, upon the parched grass,
beneath the shadow of the sumach and the elder bushes, and lay without
speaking. The small farmers, the mountaineers, the hunters, the
ploughmen fared not so badly; but the planters of many acres, the
lawyers, the doctors, the divines, the merchants, the millers, and the
innkeepers, th