“How far are we going?” he asked Warner.

“I don’t know,” replied the Vermonter, “but I fancy we’ll go far enough.  My little algebra, although it remains unopened in my pocket, tells me that we shall continue our progress unseen until we reach the desired point.  These woods have grown up and these gullies have been furrowed at a very convenient time for us.”

The light was yet dim in the forests along the slopes, but the valley itself was flooded with the sun’s rays.  The echoes of the firing rolled continuously through the gorges and multiplied it.  Despite the clouds about the earthworks and the hill, Dick saw continual flashes of light, and he knew now that the battle below was a reality and not a sham.  Early and all his men would be kept too busy to see the march of Crook and his force on his flank, and Dick, like Warner, became sure that the great movement would be a success.

But their progress, owing to the nature of the ground and the need to keep under cover, was slow.  It seemed to Dick that they marched an interminable time under the trees, while the battle flashed and roared in the plain.  He saw noon pass and the sun rise to the zenith.  He saw the brilliant light dim on the eastern mountains, and they were still marching through the forests.

The battle was now behind them and the sun was very low, but the command halted and turned toward the east.  Nevertheless, they were still hidden by the woods and the low hills of the valley.  Yet they lay behind and on the side of their enemy who would speedily be exposed where he was weakest, to their full weight.  The long flanking movement had been a complete success so far.

Little of the day was left.  The sun was almost hidden behind the eastern mountains but it still flamed in the west, glittering along the bayonets of the men in the forest, and showing their eager faces.  Dick’s heart throbbed.  In that moment of anticipated victory he forgot all about Harry and his friends who were in the closing trap.  Then trumpets sang the charge, and the cavalry thundered out of the wood, followed by the infantry and the artillery.

At the same time, another powerful division that had been moved forward by Sheridan, charged, while those in front increased their fire.  The unfortunate Southern army was overwhelmed by troops who had moved forward in such complete unison.  They were swept out of their earthworks, driven from their fortified hill, and those who did not fall or were not taken were sent in rapid flight down the valley.

The battle was short.  Completeness of preparation and superiority in numbers and resources made it so.  Early and what was left of his army had no choice but the flight they made.  The sun had nearly set when the deadly charge issued from the wood, and, by the time it had set, the pursuit was thundering along the valley, the Winchester men in the very forefront of it.  Long after dark it continued.  Several miles from the field the fragments of the Invincibles and some others rallied on a hill, posted two cannon and made a desperate resistance.  But the attack upon them was so fierce that they were compelled to retreat again, and they did not have time to take the guns with them.