nsferred from the neck of
her husband to those of the parson, whom she smothered with her
caresses.

"Bless your heart! You are the nicest, best, sweetest, loveliest man
that ever lived,--excepting Fred and father--"

"And _me_," added Wade Ruggles, stepping forward.

"Yes, and you, you great big angel," she replied, bestowing an equally
warm embrace upon him.

The two rugged fellows had won the greatest victory that can be
achieved by man, for they had conquered themselves. When the great
light broke in upon their consciousness, each resolved to let the dead
past bury its dead and to face the future like the manly heroes they
were.

And no braver deed ever was done.

Poor Captain Dawson! For a time he believed he was dreaming. Then,
when he grasped the meaning of it all, his Winchester dropped from
his nerveless grasp and he staggered and would have fallen, had not
Lieutenant Russell leaped forward and caught him in his arms. He
helped him to the boulder from which Nellie had risen and then he
collapsed utterly. The soldier who had faced unmoved the hell blast of
battle had fainted for the first time in his life.

Nellie ran to the brook a few paces away, and catching some of the
water in the hollow of her hand darted back and flung it into his
face.

"There, dear father; it is all right; rouse yourself; O, Mr. Brush,
suppose he is dead!" she exclaimed, turning terrifiedly toward him.

"He is as likely to die as you are, and you don't look just now as if
you mean to put on wings and fly away."

In a few minutes the veteran revived and looked confusedly around him.
He seemed unable to comprehend what it all meant and his gaze wandered
in a dazed way from one countenance to another without speaking.
Nellie was still caressing him, while Lieutenant Russell stood back a
couple of steps, looking pityingly into the face of the man who had
suffered so much.

Felix Brush was the hero of the occasion. Turning to the group, he
said:

"Leftenant, you and Nellie and Ruggles and Vose move off for a short
distance and leave him with me for a little while."

Understanding his purpose the three withdrew, and the two men were
left alone. The captain instantly roused himself.

"What does all this mean, Brush?"

"It means that you and Ruggles and I have been the three infernalist
fools that ever pretended to have sense."

"How?"

"How? In every way conceivable. Wade and I, as we told you, saw that
those two were