nto Richmond, to Mr. Ashley, who is raising a corps. He is one of the
best riders in the country, and a splendid specimen of a Virginian
gentleman. He tells me that he has already received a large number of
applications from young volunteers, and that he thinks he shall be able
without any difficulty to get as many as he wants. I said that I had a
son who would probably enroll himself, and that I should like to have
him in his corps.

"He said that he would be glad to put down your name, and that he had
had many applications from lads no older than yourself. He considered
that for cavalry work, scouting, and that sort of thing age mattered
little, and that a lad who was at once a light weight, a good rider,
and a good shot was of as much good as a man."

"Thank you, mother. I will ride into Richmond to-morrow morning and see
Ashley. I have often met him and should like to serve under him very
much. I should certainly prefer being in the cavalry to the infantry."

Rosie and Annie, who were of course enthusiastic for the South, were
almost as pleased as was Vincent when they heard that their mother had
consented to his enrolling himself. So many of the girls of their
acquaintance had brothers or cousins who were joining the army, that
they would have felt it as something of a slur upon the family name had
Vincent remained behind.

On the following morning Vincent rode over and saw Mr. Ashley, who had
just received his commission as major. He was cordially received.

"Mrs. Wingfield was speaking to me about you, and I shall be glad to
have you with me--the more so as you are a capital rider and a good
shot. I shall have a good many in my ranks no older than you are. Did I
not hear a few months since that you bought Wildfire? I thought, when I
heard it, that you would be lucky if you did not get your neck broken in
the course of a week. Peters, who owns the next estate to mine, had the
horse for about three weeks, and was glad enough to get rid of it for
half what he had given for it. He told me that the horse was the most
savage brute he ever saw. I suppose you didn't keep it many days?"

"I have got it still, and mean to ride it with you. The horse is not
really savage. It was hot-tempered, and had, I think, been badly treated
by its first owner. It only wanted kindness and a little patience; and
as soon as it found that it could not get rid of me, and that I had no
intention of ill-treating it, it settled down quiet