but when reinforcements came he drove Warren back in his turn, and took
guns and prisoners."

"The chief will be glad to hear it. We'll ride together. Look out for
your horse! He may go knee deep into mire at any time. Harry, the
Wilderness looks even more somber to me than it did a year ago when we
fought Chancellorsville."

"I feel the same way about it. But see, George, how they're fighting!
General Hill is making a great resistance!"

"Never better. But if you look over those low bushes you can see General
Lee on the hill."

Harry made out the figure of Lee on Traveller, outlined against the sky,
with about a dozen men sitting on their horses behind him. He hurried
forward as fast as he could. The commander-in-chief was reading a
dispatch, while the fierce struggle in the thickets was going on, but
when Harry saluted and Marshall told him that he had come to report the
general put away the dispatch and said:

"What news from General Ewell?"

"General Ewell was at first borne back by the enemy's numbers, but when
help came he returned to the charge, and has been victorious. He has
gained much ground."

A gleam of triumph shot from Lee's eyes, usually so calm.

"Well done, Ewell!" he said. "The loss of a leg has not dimmed his ardor
or judgment. I truly believe that if he were to lose the other one also
he would still have himself strapped into the saddle and lead his men to
victory. We thank you for the news you have brought, Lieutenant Kenton."

He put his glasses to his eyes and Harry and Dalton as usual withdrew to
the rear of the staff. But they used their glasses also, bringing nearer
to them the different phases of the battle, which now raged through
the Wilderness. They saw at some points the continuous blaze of guns,
and the acrid powder smoke, lying low, was floating through all the
thickets.

But Harry now knew that the combat, however violent and fierce, was only
a prelude. The sun was already setting, and they could not fight at
night in those wild thickets, where men and guns would become mired
and tangled beyond extrication. The great struggle, with both leaders
hurling in their full forces, would come on the morrow.

The sun already hung very low, and in the twilight and smoke the savagery
of the Wilderness became fiercer than ever. The dusk gathered around Lee,
but his erect figure and white horse still showed distinctly through it.
Harry, his spirit touched by the tremen