ng's on deck!"

Silence no more. Yell upon yell, shout upon shout, cheer upon cheer--and
for a space the brass could not be heard. The noise subsided to singing
and to laughter, the music again held sway, and the camp, springing to
its work in high spirits, was beginning on its last day. The last
packing, the last mess together; then as the companies stood in line for
the last march out, the band marched in and out of the company streets,
playing to us for the last time, preceded by a score of howling
dervishes, and followed by as many others, little Cupid (my second
glimpse of him) struggling along in the rear. Then we were beginning our
march, cheerful though on macadam, and though we had learned that once
more we must skirmish, and so spoil the new spotlessness of our rifles.
It was a lovely morning, hazy, but through the mist showing to the right
a mountain with its lower sides glowing red. Not many miles to go, and we
were glad as we covered each one; but at last we heard behind us the
rifles of the cavalry, and turned to fight with them a rear-guard
engagement.

There was an hour of it, first and last. It had its individual features,
notably the tale of a squad which, after marching for some minutes under
the point blank fire of our whole platoon, tried to outflank and attack
us--but an umpire attended to them. Yet after all there must be sameness
to my descriptions, and I will press on to the important matters.

We were deployed between two highways, one the main road from Cadyville,
one running south of it. On account of our coming, various motorists had
set out to meet us, and on the northern road were a number of cars, full
of fluttering females. On the southern road stood but one. Now we were
supposed to be retiring before a superior force; but their disposition
offering an excellent chance to give them a jolt, our company was sent
through the southern fields against their flank. There was much standing
stubble and high weeds in the field through which we stole silently by
rushes, Kirby behind us and urging us on, using only short blasts of his
whistle as signals, and the vibrant tones of his penetrating voice. We
were less than a hundred yards from the enemy and he had not discovered
us; every man of us kept low to the ground, and never before had the
company worked so like a machine. Our squad was on the outer flank,
coming along the broken roadside wall, when I heard someone say from the
lone car that we