Harry laughed and Dalton reddened. "The joke is on me, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "But we're here on a serious errand. Where is General Meade?" "I haf not had my regular letter from General Meade this morning. Vilhelmina, you are sure ve haf noddings from General Meade?" "Noddings, Jacob," she said. Dalton flushed again and muttered under his breath. "We want to know," he said sharply, "if you have seen the Army of the Potomac or heard anything of it." A look of deep sadness passed over the face of Jacob Onderdonk. "I haf one great veakness," he said, "one dot makes my life most bitter. I haf de poorest memory in de vorld. Somedimes I forget de face of mein own Vilhelmina. Maybe de Army uf de Potomac, a hundred thousand men, pass right before my door yesterday. Maybe, as der vedder vas hot, that efery one uf dem hundred thousand men came right into der house und take a cool drink out uf der water bucket. But I cannot remember. Alas, my poor memory!" "Then maybe Wilhelmina remembers." "Sh! do not speak uf dot poor voman. I do not let her go out uf der house dese days, as she may not be able to find der vay back in again." "We'd better go, George," said Harry. "I think we only waste time asking questions of such a forgetful family." "It iss so," said Onderdonk; "but, young Mister Rebels, I remember one thing." "And what is that?" asked Dalton. "It vas a piece of advice dot I ought to gif you. You tell dot General Lee to turn his horse's head and ride back to der South. You are good young rebels. I can see it by your faces. Ride back to der South, I tell you again. We are too many for you up here. Der field uf corn iss so thick und so long dot you cannot cut your way through it. Your knife may be sharp and heavy, but it vill vear out first. Do I not tell the truth, Vilhelmina, mein vife?" "All your life you haf been a speaker of der truth, Hans, mein husband." "I think you're a poor prophet, Mr. Onderdonk," said Dalton. "We recognize, however, the fact that we can't get any information out of you. But we ask one thing of you." "Vat iss dot?" "Please to remember that while we two are rebels, as you call them, we neither burn nor kill. We have offered you no rudeness whatever, and the Army of Northern Virginia is composed of men of the same kind." "I vill remember it," said Onderdonk gravely, and as they saluted him politely, he returned the salute. "Not a bad fellow, I fancy," said Harry, as they rode away. "No, but our stubborn enemy, all the same. Wherever our battle is fought we'll find a lot of these Pennsylvania Dutchmen standing up to us to the last." Harry and Dalton rejoined the staff, bringing with them no information of value, and they marched slowly on another day, camping in the cool of the evening, both armies now being lost to the anxious world that waited and sought to find them.