and Harry felt a slight choking in his throat.

"In the course of this lull, Leonidas and I had some thought of resuming
our unfinished game of chess," said Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire,
"but the time is really unpropitious and too short. It may be that we
shall have to wait until the war is over to conclude the match. The
enemy is pressing us hard, and I need not conceal from you lads that he
will press us harder tomorrow."

"So he will," agreed Colonel Talbot. "There was some heavy and extremely
accurate artillery fire from his ranks this afternoon. The way the guns
were handled and the remarkable rapidity and precision with which the
discharges came convinces me that John Carrington is here in the valley,
ready to concentrate all the fire of the Union batteries upon us.
It is bad, very bad for us that the greatest artilleryman in the world
should come with Sheridan, and yet we shall have the pleasure of seeing
how he achieves wonders with the guns. It was in him, even in the old
days at West Point, when we were but lads together, and he has shown more
than once in this war how the flower that was budding then has come into
full bloom."

As if in answer to his words the deep boom of a cannon rolled over the
hills, and a shell burst near the earthwork.

"That, I think, was John talking to us," said Colonel Talbot. "He was
saying to us: 'Beware of me, old friends. I'm coming tomorrow, not with
one gun but with many!' Well, be it so. We shall give John and Sheridan
a warm welcome, and we shall try to make it so very warm that it will
prove too hot for them. Now, my lads, there is no immediate duty for you,
and if you can sleep, do so. Good-night."

They rose and saluted again as the two colonels went back to their own
particular place.

"I hope those two will be spared," said St. Clair. "I want them to
finish their chess game, and I'd like, too, to see their meeting after
the war with their old friend, John Carrington."

"It will all come to pass," said Harry. "If Arthur is a poet as he seems
to be, then I'm a prophet, as I know I am."

"At least you're an optimist," said Dalton.

"Go to sleep, all of you, as the colonel told you to do," said Harry.
"If you don't stop talking you'll keep the enemy awake all night."

But Harry himself was the last of them to sleep. He could not keep from
rising at times, and, in the starlight, looking at the fires of the foe
and the dark slopes of the mountains