ling him to leave at once
by the railway in the Confederate rear for Richmond. President Davis
wished detailed information from him about the fortifications along the
coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina, which were now heavily
threatened by the enemy.

The two colonels had not made a move, but Colonel Leonidas Talbot rose,
buttoned every button of his neat tunic, and said in precise tones:

"Hector, I depart in a half hour. You will, of course, have command
of the regiment in my absence, and if any young lieutenants should be
exceedingly obstreperous in the course of that time, perhaps I can prove
to them that they are not as old as they think they are."

The colonel's severity of tone was belied by a faint twinkle in the
corner of his eye, and the lads knew that they had nothing to fear,
especially as Lieutenant-Colonel St. Hilaire was quite as stern and
able a guardian as Colonel Talbot.

Colonel Talbot departed, good wishes following him in a shower, and that
day a young officer arrived from South Carolina and took a place in the
Invincibles that had been made vacant by death.

Harry was still with his friends when this officer arrived, and the tall,
slender figure and dark face of the man seemed familiar to him. A
little thought recalled where he had first seen that eager gesture and
the manner so intense that it betrayed an excessive enthusiasm. But
when Harry did remember him he remembered him well.

"How do you do, Captain Bertrand?" he said--the man wore the uniform of
a captain.

Bertrand stared at Harry, and then he gradually remembered. It was
not strange that he was puzzled at first, as in the two years that
had passed since Bertrand was in Colonel Kenton's house at Pendleton,
Harry had grown much larger and more powerful, and was deeply tanned by
all kinds of weather. But when he did recall him his greeting was full
of warmth.

"Ah, now I know!" he exclaimed. "It is Harry Kenton, the son of Colonel
George Kenton! And we held that meeting at your father's house on the
eve of the war! And then we went up to Frankfort, and we did not take
Kentucky out of the Union."

"No, we didn't," said Harry with a laugh. "Captain Bertrand, Lieutenant
St. Clair and Lieutenant Langdon."

But Bertrand had known them both in Charleston, and he shook their hands
with zeal and warmth, showing what Harry thought--as he had thought the
first time he saw him--an excess of manner.

"We've a fine big d