come to the watchers. The moon which was uncommonly bright now colored
them all with silver, and Dick, with his imaginative mind, easily turned
them into a train of the knights of old, clad in glittering mail.
They created such a sense of illusion and distance, time as well as space,
that the peace of the moment was not disturbed. It was a spectacle out
of the past, rather than present war.

"You are familiar with the country, of course," said Dick.

"Yes," replied Shepard. "Our road, as you know, is now running parallel
with that on which the Southern force is traveling, with a broad ridge
between. But several miles farther on the ridge becomes narrower and the
roads merge. We're sure to have a fight there. Like you, I'm sorry your
cousin Harry Kenton is with them."

"It seems that you and he know a good deal of each other."

"Yes, circumstances have brought us into opposition again and again from
the beginning of the war, but the same circumstances have made me know
more about him than he does about me. Yet I mean that we shall be
friends when peace comes, and I don't think he'll oppose my wish."

"He won't. Harry has a generous and noble nature. But he wouldn't stand
being patronized, merely because he happened to be on the beaten side."

"I shouldn't think of trying to do such a thing. Now, we've seen enough,
and I think we'd better go back to the colonels, with our news."

They rode through the woods again, and, for most of the distance, there
was no sound from the marching troops. The wonderful feeling of peace