Nearly all that day the two armies constructed breastworks which stood for many years afterward, but neither made any attempt at serious work, although there was incessant firing by the skirmishers and an occasional cannon shot.  Harry, whether carrying an order or not, had ample chance to see, and he noted with increasing alarm the growing masses of the Union army, as they gathered along the Spottsylvania front.

“Can we beat them?” “Can we beat them?” was the question that he continually asked himself.  He wondered too where the Winchester regiment and Dick Mason lay, and where the spy, Shepard, was.  But Shepard was not likely to remain long in one place.  Skill and courage such as his would be used to the utmost in a time like this.  Doubtless he was somewhere in the Confederate lines, discovering for Grant the relatively small size of the army that opposed him.

Near dusk and having the time he followed his custom and sought the Invincibles.  Both colonels had recovered considerable strength, and, although one of them could not walk, he would be helped upon his horse whenever the battle began, and would ride into the thick of it.  But the faces of St. Clair and Happy Tom glowed and their wounds apparently were forgotten.

“Lieutenant Arthur St. Clair and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon are gone forever,” said Colonel Talbot.  “In their places we have Major Arthur St. Clair and Captain Thomas Langdon.  All our majors and captains have been killed, and with our reduced numbers these two will fill their places, as best they can; and that they can do so most worthily we all know.  They received their promotions this afternoon.”

Harry congratulated them both with the greatest warmth.  They were very young for such rank, but in this war the toll of officers was so great that men sometimes became generals when they were but little older.

“Is it to be to-morrow?” asked Colonel Talbot.

“I think it likely that we’ll fight again then,” said Harry.

“And Grant has not yet had enough.  He wants a little more of the same, does he!”

“It would appear so, sir.”

“Then I take it without consulting General Lee that he is ready to deal with the Yankees as he dealt with them in the Wilderness.”

“I hope so.  Good night.”

“Good night!” they called to him, and Harry returned to the staff.  Taylor, the adjutant general, told him and Dalton to lie down and seek a little sleep.  Harry was not at all averse, as he was completely exhausted again after the tremendous excitement of the battle, and the long hours of strain and danger.  But his nerves were so much on edge that he could not yet sleep.  His eyes were red and smarting from the smoke and burned powder, and he felt as if accumulated smoke and dust encased him like a suit of armor.

“I’d give a hundred dollars for a good long drink, just as long as I liked to make it,” he groaned, “and I mean a drink of pure cold water, too.”