Harry was also watching them through glasses, and he took particular note of one stalwart figure mounted upon a powerful horse.  The distance was too great to recognize the face, but he knew the swing of the broad shoulders.  It was Shepard and once more he had the uneasy feeling winch the man always inspired in him.  He appeared and reappeared with such facility, and he was so absolutely trackless that he had begun to appear to him as omniscient.  Of course the man knew all about Sherburne’s advance and could readily surmise its purpose.

“They’re an impudent lot to sit there staring at us in that supercilious manner,” said Colonel Talbot.  “Shall I take the Invincibles, sir, and teach them a lesson?”

Sherburne smiled and shook his head.

“No, Colonel,” he said, “although I thank you for the offer.  They’d melt away before you and we’d merely waste our energies.  Let them look as much as they please, and now that the boys have eaten their bread and bacon and drunk their coffee, and are giants again, we’ll ride on toward the Potomac.”

“Do we reach it to-day, sir?” asked Colonel Talbot.

“Not before to-morrow afternoon, even if we should not be interrupted.  This is the enemy’s country and we may run at any time into a force as large as our own if not larger.”

“Thank you for the information, Colonel Sherburne.  My ignorance of geography may appear astonishing to you, although we had to study it very hard at West Point.  But I admit my weakness and I add, as perhaps some excuse, that I have lately devoted very little attention to the Northern states.  It did not seem worth my time to spend much study on the rivers, and creeks and mountains of what is to be a foreign country—­although I may never be able to think of John Carrington and many other of my old friends in the army as the foreigners they’re sure to become.  Has the thought ever occurred to you, Colonel, that by our victories we’re making a tremendous lot of foreigners in America?”

“It has, Colonel Talbot, but I can’t say that the thought has ever been a particularly happy one.”

“It’s the Yankees who are being made into foreigners,” said Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire.  “The gallant Southern people, of course, remain what they are.”

“They’re going,” said Harry.  “They’ve seen enough of us.”

The distant troop disappeared over the crest of the hill.  Harry had noticed that Shepard led the way as if he were the ruling spirit, but he did not consider it necessary to say anything to the others about him.  The trumpet blew and Sherburne’s force, mounting, rode away from the cove.  Harry cast one regretful glance back at the splendid fire which still glowed there, and then resigned himself to the cold and rain.