color bearer
in the fight of the preceding day. He passed over his brow a hand that
trembled. His breath did not come freely. He was choking during this
small wait for the crisis.

His friend came to him. "Well, Henry, I guess this is good-by-John."

"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied the youth, and he would not
look at the other.

The officers labored like politicians to beat the mass into a proper
circle to face the menaces. The ground was uneven and torn. The men
curled into depressions and fitted themselves snugly behind whatever
would frustrate a bullet. The youth noted with vague surprise that the
lieutenant was standing mutely with his legs far apart and his sword
held in the manner of a cane. The youth wondered what had happened to
his vocal organs that he no more cursed.

There was something curious in this little intent pause of the
lieutenant. He was like a babe which, having wept its fill, raises its
eyes and fixes upon a distant toy. He was engrossed in this
contemplation, and the soft under lip quivered from self-whispered
words.

Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly. The men, hiding from the
bullets, waited anxiously for it to lift and disclose the plight of the
regiment.

The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the eager voice of the
youthful lieutenant bawling out: "Here they come! Right onto us,
b'Gawd!" His further words were lost in a roar of wicked thunder from
the men's rifles.

The youth's eyes had instantly turned in the direction indicated by the
awakened and agitated lieutenant, and he had seen the haze of treachery
disclosing a body of soldiers of the enemy. They were so near that he
could see their features. There was a recognition as he looked at the
types of faces. Also he perceived with dim amazement that their
uniforms were rather gay in effect, being light gray, accented with a
brilliant-hued facing. Too, the clothes seemed new.

These troops had apparently been going forward with caution, their
rifles held in readiness, when the youthful lieutenant had discovered
them and their movement had been interrupted by the volley from the
blue regiment. From the moment's glimpse, it was derived that they had
been unaware of the proximity of their dark-suited foes or had mistaken
the direction. Almost instantly they were shut utterly from the
youth's sight by the smoke from the energetic rifles of his companions.
He strained his vision to learn the ac