rrow, while both the two
Zouaves found themselves shedding tears very inappropriate for the
evening of a day of battle. Then she rose to her feet, put her fingers
to her eyes as if pressing out the moisture that had gathered unbidden
under the lids, and said:

"Shall we go? I am ready."

Reverently, Crawford drew the sheet over the face of the corpse, hiding
it forever from the eyes of the bereaved granddaughter as it was so soon
to be hidden from the eyes of all the living; and then the
doubly-orphaned girl and her new-found friends took their way from the
scene of death. She was dressed only in light delaine and had neither
shawl nor bonnet; but the night air was not too cool, and Webster
wrapped his Zouave jacket around the slight form, while Crawford
supplied her with his handkerchief as a covering for her head They took
their way at once from the house, now little more than a heap of
darkening coals,--and struck south-eastward over the spur of the hill
and through that portion of the woods least likely to retain any
ambushed rebels, towards the quarters on Malvern. The sounds of battle
had almost entirely ceased, it being now some ten o'clock in the
evening; and only occasionally the boom of a cannon half a mile away to
the south-westward showed that the opposing forces yet remained near
each other. The thick smoke which had shrouded all the country during
the day, had almost all rolled away, the young moon had disappeared in
the west, and the stars looked down as clearly and beautifully as if no
such things as war and death could exist in a world gazed upon by such
pure eyes.

Scarcely a word was spoken by either, during the short walk to the top
of Malvern Hill. The young girl leaned upon the uninjured arm of John
Crawford, with a touching confidence and trust, an occasional convulsion
of grief shaking her frame and on occasional sob breaking from her;
while Bob Webster acted as scout and guide, carrying both rifles, and
perhaps not the more on that account prepared to repel any sudden
danger. But no such danger came. The rebels had indeed retired, and the
various corps of the Union army had been gathered in to their respective
quarters, preparatory to the march to Harrison's Landing, which was to
be pursued at daylight. Not all of them, however. It was well that the
course of Crawford and his companions did not lie across Carter's Field;
for if it had done so, they must have seen hundreds of lanterns moving