two o'clock in the afternoon
The march that day was south by a little west , and about nine o'clock a cool morning breeze lifted the clouds of dust far enough above the horizon to reveal the distant blue of the mountains . The whole line seemed to come to a pause in the enchanting , mirage-like spectacle . `` The Shenandoah , '' Jack said , mopping the dust , or rather the thin coating of mud , from his face and brow , for the perspiration , oozing at every pore , naturally covered the exposed skin with an unpremeditated cosmetic . The march to Fairfax Court-House , for which judicial temple the curious soldier looked in vain , was but eight miles from the point of departure in the morning , but it was two o'clock in the afternoon when the Caribees passed the hamlet , turning sharply to the right . They marched up the deep cut of projected railway , where , for a time , they were shaded from the sun by the high banks . But , emerging presently on the Warrenton pike , they saw evidences that other columns -- whether friends or foes they could n't tell -- had recently preceded them . Scores of the raw and overworked were breaking down now every hour .