had seen so much battle and
passion. Harry felt relaxed and for the moment nerveless. His eyes
wandered to the new earth, beneath which the dead lay, and he shivered.
The wounded were lying patiently on their blankets and those of their
comrades and they did not complain. The surgeons had done their best
for them and the more skillful among the soldiers had helped.

The silence was very heavy upon Harry's nerves. Overhead great birds
hovered on black wings, and when he saw them he shuddered. St. Clair
saw them, too.

"No pleasant sight," he said. "I feel stronger since I've had food and
water, Harry, but I'm thinking that we're going to be besieged in this
fort, and we're not overburdened with supplies. I wonder what the
colonel will do."

"He'll try to hold it," said Langdon. "He was sent here for that
purpose, and we all know what the colonel is."

"He will certainly stay," said Harry.

After a good rest they resumed work with pick, shovel, and bayonet,
throwing the earthworks higher and ever higher. It was clear to the
three lads that Colonel Talbot expected a heavy attack.

"Perhaps we have underrated our mill hands and mechanics," said
St. Clair, in his precise, dandyish way. "They may not ride as well
or shoot as well as we do, but they seem to be in no hurry about going
back to their factories."

Harry glanced at him. St. Clair was always extremely particular about
his dress. It was a matter to which he gave time and thought freely.
Now, despite all his digging, he was again trim, immaculate, and showed
no signs of perspiration. He would have died rather than betray
nervousness or excitement.

"I've no doubt that we've underrated them," said Harry. "Just as the
people up North have underrated us. Colonel Talbot told me long ago
that this was going to be a terribly big war, and now I know he was
right."

A long time passed without any demonstration on the part of the enemy.
The sun reached the zenith and blazed redly upon the men in the fort.
Harry looked longingly at the dark green woods. He remembered cool
brooks, swelling into deep pools here and there in just such woods as
these, in which he used to bathe when he was a little boy. An intense
wish to swim again in the cool waters seized him. He believed it was
so intense because those beautiful woods there on the slope, where the
running water must be, were filled with the Northern riflemen.

Three scouts, sent out by Colonel Tal