"I made him get in bed and cover himself up, boots and all, when the Yankees came.

Billy has been riding to-day.
He ain't very old, and he ain't very big, but put him on a horse and he's mighty nigh a man." The small, eager face was shining.
"What did you see, Billy, when you rode so far ?" asked Dalton.
"Yankees! Yankees, Cousin George, and lots of 'em, toward Manassas Gap! I saw some of their cavalry this side of the Gap, and I heard at the store that there was a big army on the other side, marching hard to come through it, and get in behind our Stonewall." Harry looked at Dalton.
"That confirms the rumors we heard," he said.
"You can believe anything that Billy tells you," said Mrs.Pomeroy.
"I know it," said Dalton, "but we've got to go on and see these men for ourselves.

Stonewall Jackson is a terrible man, Cousin Eliza.

If we tell him that the Yankees are coming through Manassas Gap and closing in on his rear, he'll ask us how we know it, and when we reply that a boy told us he'll break us as unfit to be on his staff." "And I reckon Stonewall Jackson will be about right!" said Cousin Eliza Pomeroy, who was evidently a woman of strong mind.

"Billy, you lead these boys straight to Manassas Gap." "Oh, no, Cousin Eliza!" exclaimed Dalton.