save them. He suddenly beheld the situation in all its desperation;
he shivered from head to foot.

Dalton saw the muscles of Harry's face quivering, and he noticed a pallor
that came for an instant.

"I understand," he said. "I had thought of it already. If a Northern
general like Lee or Stonewall Jackson were behind us we might never get
back across the Potomac. It's somewhat the same position that we were in
after Antietam."

"But we've no Stonewall Jackson now to help us."

Again that lump rose in Harry's throat. The vision of the sober figure
on Little Sorrel, leading his brigades to victory, came before him,
but it was a vision only.

"It's strange that we've not come in contact with their scouts or
cavalry," he said. "In that fight with Pleasanton we saw what horsemen
they've become, and a force of some kind must be hanging on our rear."

"If it's there, Sherburne and his troop will find it."

"I think I can detect signs of the enemy now," said Harry, putting his
glasses to his eyes. "See that hill far behind us. Can't you catch the
gleam of lights on it?"

"I think I can," replied Dalton, also using glasses. "Four lights are
there, and they are winking, doubtless to lights on another hill too far
away for us to see."