e bayonet.

The Invincibles were in the vanguard. Harry and Dalton were near,
behind Jackson. Harry could speak now and then with his friends.

"It's the Second Manassas over again, isn't it, Harry?" said St. Clair.

"If it is, why do we seem to be marching away from the enemy?"

"I don't know any more than you do. But I take it that when Stonewall
Jackson draws back from the enemy he merely does it in order to make a
bigger jump. We all know that."

The dark South Carolinian, Bertrand, was riding just in front of them.
Now he turned suddenly and said:

"St. Clair, we're about to go into a great battle, and I've felt for
some time that I provoked the quarrel with you. I'm sorry and I
apologize."

St. Clair looked astonished, but he was not one to refuse so manly an
advance.

"That's so, Captain, we did have a quarrel," he said, "but I had
forgotten it. It's not necessary for anybody to apologize where there's
no rancor."

He took Bertrand's hand in a hearty grasp, which Bertrand returned with
equal vigor. Then the captain pushed his horse and rode a little ahead
of them.

"Now, that was a singular thing," said Dalton, who came of a deeply
religious family, "and to my mind it was predestined."

"Predestined?"

"Yes, predestined! Decreed! Captain Bertrand is going to die. He'll
be killed in the coming battle. He was moved to make up the quarrel
which he forced on St. Clair because of his approaching fate, although
he does not know of it himself."

"Come, come, George! So much battle has keyed your mind too highly."

But Dalton shook his head and remained resolute in his belief.

Harry's confidence returned with action and the glorious flush of a May
morning. They had started after dawn. A splendid sun was rising in a
sky of satin blue. It even gilded the somber foliage of the Wilderness,
and the spirits of all the men in the great corps rose.

Jackson stopped presently with his staff and let some of the regiments
file past him. General Lee was awaiting him there and the two talked
briefly. Harry saw that both were firm and confident. It was rare with
him, but Jackson's face was flushed and his eyes shining. He lingered
for only a few moments, and then rode on with his column. Lee's eyes
followed him, but he and his great lieutenant had spoken together for
the last time.

Now they settled into silence, save for the marching sounds, of which
the most dominant was the rumbling of the