ity of Captain de Banyan. If an
opportunity offered, he rested, and went to sleep amid the screaming
shells as readily as though he had been in his chamber in the "Fifth
Avenue." It was not quite so hot as it was at Magenta, nor the march
quite so severe as before Solferino, nor the shot quite so thick as at
Chapultepec. He never grumbled himself, and never permitted any one else
to do so. If Somers ventured to suggest that events were rather hard upon
him, he wondered what he would have done if he had been at Magenta,
Solferino, Balaclava, or Chapultepec.

Somers was disposed to make the best of the circumstances; and though
hungry, tired and nearly melted, he sustained himself with unfaltering
courage amid the trials of that eventful march. All day long, the tide of
army wagons and cattle flowed down the road; and the brigade remained
near the church at Glendale, waiting for them to pass. At dark the order
was given to move forward, while the roar of cannon and musketry
reverberated on the evening air, assuring the weary veterans that the
baptism of blood was at hand for them, as it had been before for their
comrades in arms.

The regiment followed a narrow road through the woods, which was thronged
with the _debris_ of the conflict, hurled back by the fierce assaults of
the rebels. The cowardly skulkers and the noncombatants of the engaged
regiments were here with their tale of disaster and ruin; and, judging
from the mournful stories they told, the once proud Army of the Potomac
had been utterly routed and discomfited. Cowards with one bar, cowards
with two bars, cowards with no bar, and cowards with the eagle on their
shoulders, repeated the wail of disaster; and the timid would have shrunk
from the fiery ordeal before them, if the intrepid officers and the mass
of the rank and file had not been above the influence of the poltroons'
trembling tones and quaking limbs.

"Forward, my brave boys! I've been waiting all my lifetime for such a
scene as this!" shouted Captain de Banyan, as he flourished his sword
after the most approved style.

"Don't mind the cowards!" said Somers, as the stragglers poured out their
howls of terror.

There was little need of these stirring exhortations; for the men were as
eager for the fight as the officers, and laughed with genuine glee at the
pitiful aspect of the runaways. They advanced in line of battle to the
support of the hard-pressed troops in front of them, and poured a
wi