saw them in the dusk lying
in long rows. The faint moon throwing a ghostly light over so many
motionless forms made the whole scene weird and unreal to Harry.
He shook himself to cast off the spell, and, closing his eyes, sought
sleep.

But sleep would not come and the obstinate lids lifted again. It had
turned a little darker and the motionless forms at the far end of the
line were hidden. But those nearer were so still that they seemed to
have been put there to stay forever. St. Clair had yielded at last to
weariness and with his back against the tree slept by Harry's side.

He saw four figures moving up and down like ghosts through the shadows.
They were Colonel Talbot, Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire, and two
captains watching their men, seeing that silence and caution were
preserved. Harry knew that sentinels were posted further down the ridge,
but he could not see them from where he lay. Although it was a long
time, the forest and human figures wavered at last, and he dozed for a
while. But he soon awoke and saw a faint tint of gray low down in the
east, the first timid herald of dawn.

The young soldiers were awakened. They started to rise with a
cheerful exchange of chatter, but were sternly commanded to silence.
Nevertheless, they talked in whispers and told one another how they
would wipe the Yankees off the face of the earth. Workers from the
shops in the big cities of the North could not stand before them,
the open air sons of the South. They stretched their long limbs,
felt their big muscles, and wondered why they were not led forward at
once.

But before they marched they were ordered to take food from their
knapsacks and eat. Five minutes at most were allowed, and there was to
be no nonsense, no loud talking. Some who had come north with negro
servants stared at these officers who dared to talk to them as if they
were slaves. But the words of anger stopped at their lips. They would
take their revenge instead on the Yankees.

Harry and his two friends had fitted themselves already into military
discipline and military ways. They ate, not because they were hungry,
but because they knew it was a necessity. Meanwhile, the faint gray
band in the east was broadening. The note of a bugle, distant, mellow,
and musical, came from a point down the slope.

"The Yankee fort," said Langdon. "They're waking up, too. But I'm
looking for the best, boys, and inside of two hours that Yankee fort