"No, he's gone on a great raid with his whole force. I suppose he's
going to sweep up many detachments of the enemy."

"And meanwhile we're going on to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania."

"But it seems to me that Stuart ought to be with us."

"Maybe he's gone to find out just where the Army of the Potomac is.
We've lost Meade, and Meade has lost us. Some prisoners that we've
brought in say that nobody in the North knows just where our army is,
although all know that it's in Pennsylvania."

But that night, while Harry was at General Lee's headquarters, a scout
arrived with news that the Army of the Potomac was advancing upon an
almost parallel line and could throw itself in his rear. Other scouts
came, one after another, with the same report. Harry saw the gravity
with which the news was received, and he speedily gathered from the talk
of those about him that Lee must abandon his advance to the Pennsylvania
capital and turn and fight, or be isolated far from Virginia, the
Southern base.

Stuart and the cavalry were still absent on a great raid. Lee's orders
to Stuart were not explicit, and the cavalry leader's ardent soul gave
to them the widest interpretation. Now they felt the lack of his
horsemen, who in the enemy's country could have obtained abundant
information. A spy had brought them the news that the Army of the
Potomac had crossed the Potomac and was marching on a parallel line with
them, but at that point their knowledge ended. The dark veil, which was
to be lifted in such a dramatic and terrible manner, still hung between
the two armies.