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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.
Near the town the river was deep and swift and the horsemen would be swept away by it, but willing villagers running at the horses' heads led them to fords farther down. "Into the river, boys!" shouted Sherburne, as he with Harry and Dalton by his side galloped into the stream.
They sat erect in their saddles and the last button on their uniforms was in place. Their polished spurs gleamed in the wintry sun. They set off at a gallop, Harry riding by the side of Captain Sherburne. Blood again mounted high with the rapid motion and the sense of action. Soon they left the army behind, and, as the road was narrow and shrouded in forest, they could see nothing of it.
"You ask us to go back to the village and help defend the stores?" said Philip Sherburne. "That's just what I do ask and expect." "Of course. We'd have done it without the asking, and glad of it. What a chance for us, as well as for you!" He turned and faced his men. The golden glow of the sun was gone now, but a silver tint from the twilight touched his face.
Sweeping the whole circle of the horizon with his glasses, he saw several farm houses, but no smoke was rising from their chimneys. Silent and cold, they added to his own feeling of desolation. He wondered what had become of his comrades. Perhaps Sherburne had been taken, or killed. He was not one to surrender, even to overwhelming numbers, without a fight. But he would go on.
Already the twilight was coming, and again it was heavy with clouds. In the east all the peaks and ridges were wrapped about with them, and the captain knew that they meant more snow. Heavy snow was the worst of all things for the advance of Jackson. Captain Sherburne gave another signal to his men and they galloped faster.
A great force of cavalry in blue suddenly appeared in the whitish and foggy dawn and charged straight for the guns. Without delaying a moment, Sherburne flung his troops in between, although they were outnumbered twenty to one or more. He did not expect to stop them; he merely hoped to delay them a few minutes, and therefore he offered himself as a sacrifice.
"Here, Kenton!" cried Sherburne, "hold back these recruits! My own men will do exactly as I say!" Harry ran along the infantry line, and here and there he knocked down rifles which were raised already, although the enemy was yet three hundred yards away. But he saw a figure in front of the charging horsemen wave a sword.
They saw in a half hour the heads of columns toiling up the slopes, and then Jackson riding on Little Sorrel, his shoulders bent forward slightly, the grave eyes showing that the great mind behind them was still at work, planning, planning, always planning. Their expression did not change when Sherburne, halting his horse before him, saluted respectfully.
"Not just now, I think," said Harry. "Listen! Aren't those rifle shots?" A patter, patter, distant but clear in the morning, came from a point down the stream. "You're right!" exclaimed Sherburne in alarm. "It's on our side of the river and it's increasing fast! As sure as we live, the enemy has crossed and attacked!" They were not left in doubt.
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