."

"No, sur; fur there be's manny a slip 'tuxt the cup an' the lip,
ye know; an' there may be no war, after all, and we may all be
disapp'inted. But he's bound to be tleared if he's tried, and don't ye
see--I--I don't want um to be a captain, anyhow, don't ye see?"

Richling saw, and they parted.

* * *

Thus everybody hoped. Dr. Sevier, wifeless, childless, had his hopes
too, nevertheless. Hopes for the hospital and his many patients in it
and out of it; hopes for his town and his State; hopes for Richling
and Mary; and hopes with fears, and fears with hopes, for the great
sisterhood of States. Richling had one hope more. After some weeks had
passed Dr. Sevier ventured once more to say:--

"Richling, go home. Go to your wife. I must tell you you're no ordinary
sick man. Your life is in danger."

"Will I be out of danger if I go home?" asked Richling.

Dr. Sevier made no answer.

"Do you still think we may have war?" asked Richling again.

"I know we shall."

"And will the soldiers come back," asked the young man, smilingly, "when
they find their lives in danger?"

"Now, Richling, that's another thing entirely; that's the battle-field."

"Isn't it all the _same_ thing, Doctor? Isn't it all a battle-field?"

The Doctor turned impatiently, disdaining to reply. But in a moment he
retorted:--

"We take wounded men off the field."

"They don't take themselves off," said Richling, smiling.

"Well," rejoined the Doctor, rising and striding toward a window, "a
good general may order a retreat."

"Yes, but--maybe I oughtn't to say what I was thinking"--

"Oh, say it."

"Well, then, he don't let his surgeon order it. Doctor," continued
Richling, smiling apologetically as his friend confronted him, "you
know, as you say, better than any one else, all that Mary and I have
gone through--nearly all--and how we've gone through it. Now, if my life
should end here shortly, what would the whole thing mean? It would mean
nothing. Doctor; it would be meaningless. No, sir; this isn't the end.
Mary and I"--his voice trembled an instant and then was firm again--"are
designed for a long life. I argue from the simple fitness of
things,--this is not the end."

Dr. Sevier turned his face quickly toward the window, and so remained.

CHAPTER L.

FALL IN!

There came a sound of drums. Twice on such a day, once the day
before, thrice the next day, till by and by it was the common thing.
High