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thought he could see lighter masses protruding in points from the forest. They were suggestive of unnumbered thousands.
    Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing along the line of the horizon. The tiny riders were beating the tiny horses.
    From a sloping hill came the sounds of cheerings and clashes. Smoke welled slowly through the leaves.
    Batteries were speaking with thunderous oratorical effort. Here and there were flags, the red in the stripes dominating. They splashed bits of warm color upon the dark lines of troops.
    The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblem. They were like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in a storm.
    As he listened to the din from the hillside, to a deep pulsating thunder that came from afar to the left, and to the lesser clamors which came from many directions, it occurred to him that they were fighting too, over there, and over there, and over there. Heretofore he had supposed that all the battle was directly under his nose.
    As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the blue, pure sky and the sun gleamingon the trees and fields. It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment.
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    The youth awakened slowly. He came gradually back to a position from which he could regard himself. For moments he had been scrutinizing his person in a dazed way as if he had never before seen himself. Then he picked up his cap from the ground. He wriggled in his jacket to make a more comfortable fit, and kneeling, replaced his shoe. He thoughtfully mopped his reeking features.
    So it was all over at last! The supreme trial had been passed. The red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished.
    He went into an ecstasy of self-satisfaction. He had the most delightful sensations of his life. Standing as if apart from himself, he viewed that last scene. He perceived that the man who had fought thus was magnificent.
    He felt that he was a fine fellow. He saw himself even with those ideals which he had considered as far beyond him. He smiled in deep gratification.
    Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and good will. “Gee! ain’t it hot, hey?” he said affably to a man who was polishing his streaming face with his coat sleeves.
    “You bet!” said the other, grinning sociably. “I never seen sech dumb hotness.” He sprawled out luxuriously on the ground. “Gee, yes! An’ I hope we don’t have no more fightin’ till a week from Monday.”
    There were some hand-shakings and deep speeches with men whose features were familiar, but with whomthe youth now felt the bonds of tied hearts. He helped a cursing comrade to bind up a wound of the shin.
    But, of a sudden, cries of amazement broke out along the ranks of the new regiment. “Here they come ag’in! Here they come ag’in!” The man who had sprawled upon the ground started up and said, “Gosh!”
    The youth turned quick eyes upon the field. He discerned forms begin to swell in masses out of a distant wood. He again saw the tilted flag speeding forward.
    The shells, which had ceased to trouble the regiment for a time, came swirling again, and exploded in the grass or among the leaves of the trees. They looked to be strange war flowers bursting into fierce bloom.
    The men groaned. The luster faded from their eyes. Their smudged countenances now expressed a profound dejection. They moved their stiffened bodies slowly, and watched in sullen mood the frantic approach of the enemy. The slaves toiling in the temple of this god began to feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.
    They fretted and complained each to each. “Oh, say, this is too much of a good thing! Why can’t somebody send us supports?”
    “We ain’t never goin’ to stand this second banging. I didn’t come here to fight the hull damn’ rebel army.”
    There was one who raised a doleful cry. “I wish Bill Smithers had trod on my hand, insteader me treddin’ on his’n.” The sore joints of the