The firing behind him had died completely, and there was no sound but the rustle of dry leaves in the light wind, nothing to tell that there had been sharp fighting along the creek, and that men lay dead in the forest.  The moon and the stars clothed everything in a whitish light, that seemed surcharged with a powerful essence, and this essence was danger.

The spirit of the great forest ranger descended upon him once more, and he read the omens, all of which were sinister.  He foresaw terrible campaigns, mighty battles in the forest, and a roll of the dead so long that it seemed to stretch away into infinity.

Then he shook himself violently, cast off the spell, and rode rapidly back with his report.  Lee had risen and was standing under a tree.  He was fully dressed and his uniform was trim and unwrinkled.  Harry thought anew as he rode up, what a magnificent figure he was.  He was the only great man he ever saw who really looked his greatness.  Nothing could stir that calm.  Nothing could break down that loftiness of manner.  Harry was destined to feel then, as he felt many times afterward, that without him the South had never a chance.  And the choking came in his throat again, as he thought of him who was gone, of him who had been the right arm of victory, the hammer of Thor.

But he hid all these feelings as he quickly dismounted and saluted the commander-in-chief.

“What have you seen, Lieutenant Kenton?” asked Lee.

“A considerable detachment of the enemy tried to force the passage of the creek in our right rear.  They were met by Captain Sherburne’s troop dismounted, and three companies of infantry, and were driven back after a sharp fight.”

“Very good.  Captain Sherburne is an alert officer.”

He turned away, and Harry, giving his horse to an orderly, again resumed his old position under a tree, out of hearing of the generals, but in sight.  Dalton was not there, but he knew that skirmishing had occurred in other directions, and doubtless the Virginian had been sent on an errand like his own.

He had a sense of rest and realization as he leaned back against the tree.  But it was mental tension, not physical, for which relief came, and Shepard, much more than the battle at the creek, was in his thoughts.

The strong personality of the spy and his seeming omniscience oppressed him again.  Apparently he was able to go anywhere, and nothing could be hidden from him.  He might be somewhere in the circling shadows at that very moment, watching Lee and his lieutenants.  His pulses leaped.  Shepard had achieved an extraordinary influence over him, and he was prepared to believe the impossible.

He stood up and stared into the bushes, but sentinels stood there, and no human being could pass their ring unseen.  Presently Dalton came, made a brief report to General Lee and joined his comrade.  Harry was glad of his arrival.  The presence of a comrade brought him back to earth and earth’s realities.  The sinister shadows that oppressed him melted away and he saw only the ordinary darkness of a summer night.