, as proud and haughty as thyself, defy thee. George,
you tell him all about it." Dalton grinned. A grave and serious youth
himself, he liked Langdon's perpetual fund of chaff and good humor.

"Nothing has happened, Harry, while you slept," he said, "except that
the army, or at least General Jackson's corps, has been making ready for
a possible great battle. We're scattered along a long line, and General
Lee and General Longstreet are some distance from us, but our generals
don't seem to be alarmed in the least. It's said that McClellan will
soon be between us and Richmond, but I can't see any alarm about that
either."

"Why should there be?" said St. Clair, who was also sitting by. "It
would make McClellan's position dangerous, not ours."

"Arthur puts it right," said Langdon. "When we go to our tents, show
him the new uniform you've got, Arthur. It's the most gorgeous affair
in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it cost him a whole year's pay
in Confederate money. Have you noticed, Harry, that the weakest thing
about us is our money? We're the greatest marchers and fighters in the
world, but nobody, not even our own people, seem to fall in love with
our money."

"I suppose that General Jackson is now ready to march whenever the word
should come," said St. Clair. "The boys, as far as I can see, have
returned to their rest and play. There's that Cajun band playing again."

"And it sounds mighty good," said Harry. "Look at those Louisiana
Frenchmen dancing."

The spirits of the swarthy Acadians were irrepressible. As they had
danced in the great days in the valley in the spring, now they were
dancing when autumn was merging into winter, and they sang their songs
of the South, some of which had come from old Brittany through Nova
Scotia to Louisiana.

Harry liked the French blood, and he had learned to like greatly these
men who were so much underestimated in the beginning. He and his
comrades watched them as they whirled in the dance, clasped in one
another's arms, their dark faces glowing, white teeth flashing and black
eyes sparkling. He saw that they were carried away by the music and the
dance, and as they floated over the turf they were dreaming of their far
and sunny land and the girls they had left behind them. He had been
reared in a stern and more northern school, but he had learned long
since that a love of innocent pleasure was no sign of effeminacy or
corruption.

"Good to look on,