me--"

"What?"

"I'm a gone coon this first time and--and I w-want you to take these
here things--to--my--folks." He ended in a quavering sob of pity for
himself. He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow
envelope.

"Why, what the devil--" began the youth again.

But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and
raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner and turned away.

Chapter 4

The brigade was halted in the fringe of a grove. The men crouched
among the trees and pointed their restless guns out at the fields.
They tried to look beyond the smoke.

Out of this haze they could see running men. Some shouted information
and gestured as the hurried.

The men of the new regiment watched and listened eagerly, while their
tongues ran on in gossip of the battle. They mouthed rumors that had
flown like birds out of the unknown.

"They say Perry has been driven in with big loss."

"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital. He said he was sick. That smart
lieutenant is commanding 'G' Company. Th' boys say they won't be under
Carrott no more if they all have t' desert. They allus knew he was a--"

"Hannises' batt'ry is took."

"It ain't either. I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on th' left not more'n
fifteen minutes ago."

"Well--"

"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull command of th' 304th
when we go inteh action, an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as
never another one reg'ment done."

"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left. They say th' enemy driv'
our line inteh a devil of a swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."

"No sech thing. Hannises' batt'ry was 'long here 'bout a minute ago."

"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a good off'cer. He ain't afraid 'a
nothin'."

"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he ses his brigade fit th' hull
rebel army fer four hours over on th' turnpike road an' killed about
five thousand of 'em. He ses one more sech fight as that an' th' war
'll be over."

"Bill wasn't scared either. No, sir! It wasn't that. Bill ain't
a-gittin' scared easy. He was jest mad, that's what he was. When that
feller trod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin' t' give his
hand t' his country, but he be dumbed if he was goin' t' have every
dumb bushwhacker in th' kentry walkin' 'round on it. So he went t' th'
hospital disregardless of th' fight. Three fingers was crunched. Th'
dern doctor wanted t' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he rais