But he was gone. They had looked upon the smoldering ruins
of their great supply camp, but they had found there no trace of a
Confederate soldier. Was Harry Kenton right, when he told them they
could not beat Jackson? He asked himself angrily why the man would not
stay and fight. He believed, too, that he must be off there somewhere to
the right, and he listened eagerly but vainly for the distant throb of
guns in the east.
A cloud of dust hovered over the ten thousand as they marched on in the
blazing sunshine. The country was well peopled, but all the inhabitants
had disappeared save a few, and from not one of these could they obtain a
scrap of information.
Dick noticed through the dusty veil a heavy wood on their left extending
for a long distance. Then as in a flash, he saw that the whole forest
was filled with troops, and he saw also two batteries galloping from it
toward the crest of a ridge. It occurred to him instantly that here was
the army of Jackson, and others who saw had the same instinctive belief.
There was a flash and roar from the batteries.
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