taking me?"

Jones turned his rubicund and kindly face.

"Don't it beat all how things come about?" he said. "This wagon wasn't
built for passengers, but I have you once and then I have you twice,
sleepin' like a prince on them blankets. I guess if the road wasn't so
rough you'd have slept all the way to Virginia. But I'm proud to have
you as a passenger. They say you've been coverin' yourself with glory.
I don't know about that, but I never before saw a man who was so all
fired tuckered out."

"Where did you find me?"

"I didn't exactly find you myself. They say you saluted General Lee so
deep and so strong that you just fell down at his feet an' didn't move,
as if you intended to stay there forever. But four of your friends
brought you to my wagon feet foremost, with orders from General Lee if
I didn't treat you right that I'd get a thousand lashes, be tarred an'
feathered, an' hung an' shot an' burned, an' then be buried alive.
For all of which there was no need, as I'm your friend and would treat
you right anyway."

"I know you would," laughed Harry. "You can't afford to lose your best
passenger. How long have I been sleeping in this rough train of yours?"

"Since about three o'clock in the morning."

"And what time might it be now."

"Well it might be ten o'clock in the morning or it might be noon, but it
ain't either."

"Well, then, what time is it?"

"It's about six o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Kenton, and I judge that
you've slept nigh on to fifteen hours, which is mighty good for a man who
was as tired as you was."

"And what has the army been doing while I slept?"

"Oh, it's been marchin' an' marchin' an' marchin'. Can't you hear the
wagons an' the cannons clinkin' an' clankin'? An' the hoofs of the
horses beatin' in the road? An the feet of forty or fifty thousand men
comin' down ker-plunk! ker-plunk! an' all them thousands talkin' off an'
on? Yes, we're still marchin', Mr. Kenton, but we're retreatin' with all
our teeth showin' an' our claws out, sharpened specially. Most of the
boys don't care if Meade would attack us. They'd be glad of the chance
to get even for Gettysburg."

There was a beat of hoofs and St. Clair rode up by the side of the wagon.

"All right again, Harry?" he said cheerfully. "I'm mighty glad of it.
Other messengers have got through from Sherburne, confirming what you
said, but you were the first to arrive and the army already was on the
march because o