“Are you strong enough to ride alone?”

“I’m strong enough to do anything now.”

“Then up with you!  Here, on Carter’s horse!  Carter can ride behind Hubbell!  St. Clair, you and Langdon ride on either side of him!  You should reach the commander-in-chief in three-quarters of an hour, Harry!”

“And there is no Yankee cavalry in between?”

“No, they’re thick on the slopes above us!  You knew that, but here you’re inside our own lines.  Judging by your looks you’ve had quite a time, Harry.  Now hurry on with him, boys!”

“So I have had, Colonel, but the appearance of you, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire and the boys was like a light from Heaven.  Good-by!”

“Good-by!” the two colonels called back, but their voices were already dying in the distance as Harry and his comrades were now riding rapidly down the valley, knee to knee, because St. Clair and Langdon meant to keep very close to him.  They saw that he was a little unsteady, and that his eyes were unnaturally bright.  They knew, too, that if he said he had great news for General Lee he told the truth, and they meant that he should get there with it in the least time possible.

The valley opened out before them, broadening considerably as they advanced.  The night was far gone, there was not much moonlight, but their eyes had grown used to the dark, and they could see well.  They passed sentinels and small detachments of cavalry, to whom St. Clair and Langdon gave the quick password.  They saw fields of wheat stubble and pastures and crossed two brooks.  The curiosity of Langdon and St. Clair was overwhelming but they restrained it for a long time.  They could tell by his appearance that he had passed through unimaginable hardships, but they were loath to ask questions.

An owl on their right hooted, and both of them saw Harry shiver.

“What makes an owl’s cry disturb you so, Harry?” asked Langdon.

“Because one of them tried to put the hoodoo on me as they say down in your country, Happy.  I was lying back there in the forest on the hill and the biggest and reddest-eyed owl that was ever born sat on a bough over head, and kept telling me that I was finished, right at the end of my rope.  But he was a liar, because here I am, with you fellows on either side of me, inside our lines and riding to the camp of the commander-in-chief.”

“I think you’re a bit shaky, Harry,” said St. Clair, “and I don’t wonder at it.  If I had been through all I think you’ve been through I’d tumble off that horse into the road and die.”

“Has any messenger come from Colonel Sherburne at the river to General Lee?”

“Not that I’ve heard of.  No, I’m sure that none’s come,” replied St. Clair.

“Then I’ll get to him first.  Don’t think, Arthur, it’s just a foolish ambition of mine to lead, but the sooner some one reaches the general the better.”