being forced to fight on
ground where his original advantage of position would be transferred to
the enemy.

Now the position was one of open tactics. The lines were drawn, and some
sort of a battle would have to be fought, theoretically, before further
movements were in order. With Bremerton as his centre, General Harkness
and his army lay directly across the line of the Blue advance, already
across the border at Mardean, and seeking, or intending, rather, to seek
the control of the railroad at Fessenden Junction, a dozen miles back of
Bremerton.

The Junction was the key to the situation now, so far as the hopes of
the invading forces were concerned. Its possession would, theoretically,
cut the defenders off from their base of supplies, and, once it was
captured, General Bliss would force the Red army immediately to fall
back and occupy the defenses of the capital city itself, since the
railroad would enable him to cut off its supplies and advance his troops
against it with great speed. That would mean the immediate abandonment
of any offensive tactics on the part of General Harkness, and would make
up for the capture of the two regiments that General Bean had sent into
Bremerton as prisoners of war.

But there seemed little chance of an engagement on Tuesday. Ever since
noon the day before, when hostilities had begun, both armies had been
constantly on the march. There had been severe fighting, and the plans
of the commanders had involved the rapid movement of considerable bodies
of troops. As a result, the troops on both sides were nearly exhausted.
In the first place, they did not have the stamina that is the portion of
regular troops. They were, in the main, militiamen, clerks, lawyers,
brokers, and men of that sort, who do not have the chance of regular
exercise, and who do not keep such strict hours as do trained soldiers.

"There'll be no fighting until to-morrow, in my opinion," said Durland,
when Jack and Tom reported to him; "it's a pretty situation as it stands
now, but these fellows can't do any more. Bean's brigade in particular
must be about ready to drop. I never saw troops worked harder. They've
done mighty well, and, while there won't be any formal arrangement to
that effect, I suppose, I guess that both generals will understand that
they can't accomplish any more without some rest. They'd have to
recognize that in a war, for the wise general never requires his men to
fight when exhausted, except