be able to build bridges, and destroy them, and
erect fortifications without the proper materials. Not in this war, of
course, but if there was real fighting. These maneuvers are different
from the ordinary sort. They're not so cut and dried, and there aren't
so many rules. I've read about maneuvers when there were rules to govern
every sort of situation that came up--in fact, surprising situations
couldn't come up, because everything that was to happen had been worked
out ahead of time."

"This is better for us, isn't it, Jack? I mean, we're really learning
how a war would actually be fought."

"We're getting a pretty good idea of it, anyhow. It isn't a bit the way
I thought it was going to be."

"Well, we ought to be getting in touch with General Bean pretty soon, I
should think."

"We've got another ten or twelve miles to drive yet. I took a pretty
wide swing around, thinking we'd avoid the enemy altogether. Instead of
that, we bumped right into them. It's surely a good thing we had that
little engine trouble. We'd be prisoners right now if we'd been able to
go on at full speed, because I don't believe we'd have been able to see
them in time to turn around and get away. And we got a much better
chance to see what they were up to, too."

As they approached General Bean's brigade the firing in the direction of
Bremerton, where Colonel Abbey had encountered the enemy, began to be
audible again. It had died away for a time, and Jack had wondered
whether Abbey had retired. The sound of the heavy rifle fire, however,
with an occasional explosion of a shell to make it louder, reassured
him.

Newville was deserted when they entered it, and Jack laughed. Not a Blue
soldier was in sight--and yet General Bean was waiting for full
daylight, convinced that the main body of the Blue army was there.

"They certainly did make a clever shift," he said to Tom. "General Bliss
has a reputation for moving quickly, and striking like a snake. He
covers his movements well, and I'll bet that if we ever do have another
war, he'll cut a pretty big figure. Captain Durland says he's a real
fighter, of the sort that was developed in the Civil War. Some of the
best fighters on both sides in that war, you know, were men who never
went to West Point at all."

"The great generals were regulars, though, weren't they?"

"Most of them, yes. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Lee--they were all West
Pointers, and a lot more of them, too. But there wer