ly came right up there and looked us in the eyes. How often did you
charge us?"

"Five times, I think. But I may be mistaken. You know it wasn't a day
when a fellow could be very particular about his count."

"Guess you're right there. I made it five. What do you say, Jim?"

"Five she was."

"That settles it. Jim kin always count up to five an' never make a
mistake. What you fellers goin' to do in the mornin'?"

"I don't know."

"Pope ain't asked you yet what to do. Well, Bobby Lee and Old Stonewall
ain't been lookin' for me either to get my advice, but, Yank, you
fellers do just what I tell you."

"What's that?"

"Pack up your clothes before daylight, say good-bye, and go back
to Washington. You needn't think you kin ever lick Marse Bobby an'
Stonewall Jackson."

"But what if we do think it? We've got a big army back there yet, and
more are always coming to us. We'll beat you yet."

"There seems to be a pow'ful wide difference in our opinions, an'
I can't persuade you an' you can't persuade me. We'll just let the
question rip. I'm glad, after all, Yank, it's so dark. I don't want to
see ten thousand dead men stretched out in rows."

"We're going to get a wettin'," said the man to Jim. "The air's
already damp on my face. Thar, do you hear that thunder growlin' in the
southwest? Tremenjously like cannon far away, but it's thunder all the
same."

"What do we care 'bout a wettin', Jim? Fur the last few days this young
Yank here an' his comrades have shot at me 'bout a million cannon balls
an' shells, an' more 'n a hundred million rifle bullets. Leastways I
felt as if they was all aimed at me, which is just as bad. After bein'
drenched fur two days with a storm of steel an' lead an' fire, what do
you think I care for a summer shower of rain, just drops of rain?"

"But I don't like to get wet after havin' fit so hard. It's unhealthy,
likely to give me a cold."

"Never min' 'bout ketchin' cold. You're goin' to get wet, shore.
Thunder, but I thought fur a second that was the flash of a hull
battery aimed at me. Fellers, if you wasn't with me I'd be plumb scared,
prowlin' 'roun' here in a big storm on the biggest graveyard in the
world. Keep close, Yank, we don't want to lose you in the dark."

A tremendous flash of lightning had cut the sky down the middle, as if
it intended to divide the world in two halves, but after its passage the
darkness closed in thicker and heavier than ever. The sinister sound of
t