py Tom.

"I don't understand," said Harry.

"Then look and you will," said St. Clair.

He pointed to a small clear space in which Colonel Leonidas Talbot and
Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St. Hilaire sat on their blankets facing each
other with an empty cracker box between them, upon which their chess men
were spread. The firelight plainly revealed a look of dismay upon the
face of Colonel Talbot, and with equal plainness a triumphant expression
upon that of Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire.

"Colonel Talbot has lost his remaining knight," whispered St. Clair.
"I don't know how it came about, but when the event occurred we heard
them both utter a cry. Listen!"

"I fail even yet, Hector, to see just how it occurred." said Colonel
Talbot.

"But it has occurred, Leonidas, and that's the main thing. A general in
battle does not always know how he is whipped, but the whipping hurts
just as much."

"You should not show too much elation over your triumph, Hector.
Remember that he laughs best who laughs last."

"I take my laugh whenever I can, Leonidas, because no one knows who is
going to laugh last. It may be that he who laughs in the present will
also laugh at the end. What do you mean by that move, Leonidas?"

"That to you is a mystery, Hector. It's like one of Stonewall Jackson's
flanking marches, and in due time the secret will be revealed with
terrible results."

"Pshaw, Leonidas, you can't frighten a veteran like me. That for your
move, and here's mine in reply."

The two gray heads bent lower over the board as the colonels made move
after move. The youths standing in the shadow of the trees watched until
the second time that night the two uttered a simultaneous cry. But they
were very different in quality. Now Colonel Talbot's expressed victory
and Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire's consternation.

"Your bishop, Hector!" exclaimed Colonel Talbot. "Pious and able
gentleman as he is, an honor to his cloth, he is nevertheless my captive."

"I admit that it was most unexpected, Leonidas. You have matched my
victory with one of yours. It was indeed most skillful and I don't yet
see what led to it."

"Did I not warn you a little while ago that you couldn't frighten me?
I prepared a trap for you, and thus I rise from defeat to victory."

"At any rate we are about even on the evening's work, Leonidas, and we
have made more progress than for the whole six months preceding. It
seems likely now that we ca