nterest at the little white button with the American
flag, and then said: "Have I got to that point? The last chance, I
suppose?" he added after a pause.

"Not the last, but the first!"

"How so?"

"At any rate it's better than paperhanging. Look here, Taney, you'll
only worry yourself to death. It would be far more sensible of you to
take the bull by the horns and join our ranks. You can at least try to
retrieve your fortunes by that means."

The ferry-boat entered the slip at Hoboken and both men left the boat.

"Now, Taney, which is it to be, paperhanging or--," and James Harrison
pointed to the button.

"I'll come with you," said Taney indifferently. They went further along
the docks towards the Governor's Island ferry-boat.

"I have a friend over there," said Harrison, "a major in the 8th
Regulars; he'll be sure to find room for us, and we may be at the front
in a month's time."

Taney stuffed his pipe and answered: "In a month? That suits me; I have
no affairs to arrange."

The two men looked across in silence at Manhattan Island, where the
buildings were piled up in huge terraces. All the color-tones were
accentuated in the bright clear morning air. The sky-scrapers of the
Empire City, mighty turreted palaces almost reaching into the clouds,
stood out like gigantic silhouettes. The dome of the Singer Building
glistened and glittered in the sun, crowning a region in which strenuous
work was the order of the day, while directly before them stretched the
broad waters of the Hudson with its swarm of hurrying ferry-boats.
Further on, between the piers and the low warehouses, could be seen a
long row of serious-looking ocean-steamers, whose iron lungs emitted
little clouds of steam as the cranes fed their huge bodies with nice
little morsels.

The two men had seen this picture hundreds of times, but were impressed
once again by its grandeur.

"Taney," said Harrison, "isn't that the most beautiful city in the
world? I've been around the world twice, but I've never seen anything to
equal it. That's our home, and we are going to protect it by shouldering
our guns. Come on, old chap, leave everything else behind and come with
me!"

"Yes, I'll come, I certainly shall!" came the quick response. Then they
took the boat to Governor's Island and Taney enlisted. They promised to
make him a lieutenant when the troops took the field.

When they returned two hours later Randolph Taney also wore the button
with the