"Your
mathematical power grows every day, Frank. Let x equal the whole
distance from the gap to the Antietam, which is eight miles, let y equal
the distance which we have come which is three miles, then x minus y
equals the distance left, which is five miles. Wonderful! wonderful!
You'll soon have a great head on you, Frank."
"If some rebel cannoneer doesn't shoot it off in the coming battle.
By George, we're driving their skirmishers before us! They don't seem
to make any stand at all!"
The vanguard certainly met with no very formidable resistance as it
advanced over the rolling country. The sound of firing was continuous,
but it came from small squads here and there, and after firing a few
volleys the men in gray invariably withdrew.
Yet the Northern advance was slow. Colonel Winchester became intensely
impatient again.
"Why don't we hurry!" he exclaimed. "Of all things in the world the one
that we need most is haste. With Jackson tied up before Harper's Ferry,
Lee's defeat is sure, unless he retreats across the Potomac, and that
would be equivalent to a defeat.
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