hat."

"Yes, that was it. Of course, he didn't mean it just exactly as he said
it. A general can't be one hundred per cent and an army none. It was a
figure of speech so to say, but I imagine that a general is about forty
per cent. If we had had such leadership at Bull Run we'd have won."

Dick and Warner, worn out by their long ride, soon slept but there was
movement all around them during the late hours of the night. Thomas
with his cautious, measuring mind was rectifying his lines in the wintry
darkness. He occupied a crossing of the roads, and he posted a strong
battery of artillery to cover the Southern approach. Around him were men
from Kentucky, the mountains of Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota.
The Minnesota troops were sun-tanned men who had come more than a
thousand miles from an Indian-infested border to defend the Union.

All through the night Thomas worked. He directed men with spades to
throw up more intrenchments. He saw that the guns of the battery were
placed exactly right. He ordered that food should be ready for all very
early in the morning, and then, when nothing more remained to be done,
save to wait for the decree of battle, he sat before his tent wrapped
in a heavy military overcoat, silent and watchful. Scouts had brought in
additional news that the Southern army was still marching steadily along
the muddy roads, and that Captain Markham's calculation of its arrival
about dawn would undoubtedly prove correct.

Dick awoke while it was yet dark, and throwing off the heavy blankets
stood up.

Although the dawn had not come, the night was now fairly light and Dick
could see a long distance over the camp which stretched to left and
right along a great front. Near him was the battery with most of the men
sleeping beside their guns, and not far away was the tent. Although he
could not see the general, he knew instinctively that he was not asleep.

It was cold and singularly still, considering the presence of so many
thousands of men. He did not hear the sound of human voices and there
was no stamp of horses' feet. They, too, were weary and resting.
Then Dick was conscious of a tall, thin figure beside him. Warner had
awakened, too.

"Dick," he said, "it can't be more than an hour till dawn."

"Just about that I should say."

"And the scene, that is as far as we can see it, is most peaceful."

Dick made no answer, but stood a long time listening. Then he said:

"My ears are pretty goo