ar him, threw it with all his
force full at the man, crying fiercely,--

"Damnation, sir! Be off and send me a _man_."

The officer dodged the missile, which struck the wall with a crash,
saluted, and ran out of the door as if his life depended on it; feeling
in his heart that he would face any danger rather than brave another
storm of wrath like that he had just sustained. The general continued
to pace up and down the room restlessly for a few moments, until he
recovered his composure.

"I depended upon that information, and I must have it," he
soliloquized. "If that man does not bring it back to us before we
cross the river, I 'll have him cashiered. Shall I send another man?
No, I 'll give him another chance."

Seymour picked up the book the general had been reading. It was the
Bible, and open at the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Joshua.
His eye fell full upon the twenty-second verse, which was marked. "The
Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall
know; if; _it be_ in rebellion, or if in transgression against the
Lord, (save us not this day.)"

Just then the little daughter of Keith, the owner of the farmhouse at
which they were staying, entered the room. As the little miss came up
fearlessly to the general, he stopped and smiled down at her.

"Father and mother wish to know if you will want supper to-night, sir?"

"No, my little maid," he replied; "not here, at any rate. And which do
you like the better now, the Redcoats or the Continentals?"

"The Redcoats, sir, they have such pretty clothes," said the nascent
woman.

"Ah, my dear," he replied blithely, catching her up in his arms and
kissing her the while, "they look better, but they don't fight. The
ragged fellows are the boys for fighting."

"Singular man!" mused Seymour, contrasting the outbreak of wrath at the
recalcitrant officer, the open Bible he had been reading, and the last
merry, tender greeting to the child. But his musings were interrupted
by the general himself, speaking.

"General Greene, you would better ride over to the landing and place
the different brigades; take Hamilton with you, and perhaps General
Knox will go also to look out for the artillery. The brigades were to
start at three o'clock for McConkey's Ford, and the nearest of them
should be there now. We shall move in two divisions after we leave
Birmingham on the other side. I wish you to command the first one,
which will c