of the
people glow with stories of war. He could see himself in a room of
warm tints telling tales to listeners. He could exhibit laurels. They
were insignificant; still, in a district where laurels were infrequent,
they might shine.

He saw his gaping audience picturing him as the central figure in
blazing scenes. And he imagined the consternation and the ejaculations
of his mother and the young lady at the seminary as they drank his
recitals. Their vague feminine formula for beloved ones doing brave
deeds on the field of battle without risk of life would be destroyed.

CHAPTER XVI.

A sputtering of musketry was always to be heard. Later, the cannon had
entered the dispute. In the fog-filled air their voices made a
thudding sound. The reverberations were continued. This part of the
world led a strange, battleful existence.

The youth's regiment was marched to relieve a command that had lain
long in some damp trenches. The men took positions behind a curving
line of rifle pits that had been turned up, like a large furrow, along
the line of woods. Before them was a level stretch, peopled with
short, deformed stumps. From the woods beyond came the dull popping of
the skirmishers and pickets, firing in the fog. From the right came
the noise of a terrific fracas.

The men cuddled behind the small embankment and sat in easy attitudes
awaiting their turn. Many had their backs to the firing. The youth's
friend lay down, buried his face in his arms, and almost instantly, it
seemed, he was in a deep sleep.

The youth leaned his breast against the brown dirt and peered over at
the woods and up and down the line. Curtains of trees interfered with
his ways of vision. He could see the low line of trenches but for a
short distance. A few idle flags were perched on the dirt hills.
Behind them were rows of dark bodies with a few heads sticking
curiously over the top.

Always the noise of skirmishers came from the woods on the front and
left, and the din on the right had grown to frightful proportions. The
guns were roaring without an instant's pause for breath. It seemed
that the cannon had come from all parts and were engaged in a
stupendous wrangle. It became impossible to make a sentence heard.

The youth wished to launch a joke--a quotation from newspapers. He
desired to say, "All quiet on the Rappahannock," but the guns refused
to permit even a comment upon their uproar. He never successfully
c