It's a weak voice."

"We'll turn and follow it. Don't say anything to the others yet."

They curved and walked on, the colonel swinging his lantern from side to
side, and now all of them heard the voice distinctly.

"What is that?" exclaimed Mrs. Mason, speaking for the first time since
they had come upon the field of conflict.

"Some one shouting for help," replied Colonel Winchester. "One could not
neglect him at such a time."

"No, that is so."

"It's the voice of Lieutenant Warner, colonel," whispered the sergeant.

Colonel Winchester nodded. "Say nothing as yet," he whispered.

They walked a dozen steps farther and the colonel, swinging high the
lantern, disclosed Warner sitting on the trunk of a tree that had been
cut through by cannon balls. Warner, as well as they could see, was not
wounded, but he seemed to be suffering from an overpowering weakness.
The colonel, the sergeant and the boy alike dreaded to see what lay
beyond the log, but the two women did not know Warner or that his
presence portended anything.

The Vermonter saw them coming, and raised his hand in a proper salute
to his superior officer. Then as they came nearer, and he saw the white
woman who came with them, he lifted his head, tried to straighten his
uniform a little with his left hand, and said as he bowed:

"I think this must be Mrs. Mason, Dick's mother."

"It is," said Colonel Winchester, and then they waited a moment or two
in an awful silence.

"I don't rise because there is something heavy lying in my lap which
keeps me from it," said Warner very quietly, but with deep feeling.
"After the Second Manassas, where I was badly wounded and left on the
ground for dead, a boy named Dick Mason hunted over the field, found
me and brought me in. I felt grateful about it and told him that if he
happened to get hit in the same way I'd find him and bring him in as he
had brought me.

"I didn't think the chance would come so soon. Curious how things happen
as you don't think they're going to happen, and don't happen as you
think they're going to happen, and here the whole thing comes out in
only a few weeks. We were driven back and I missed Dick as the battle
closed. Of course I came to hunt for him, and I found him. Easy, Mrs.
Mason, don't get excited now. Yes, you can have his head in your own
lap, but it must be moved gently. That's where he's hurt. Don't tremble,
ma'am. He isn't going to die, not by a long shot. The bullet meant t