“Where are we going, Tom?  Have you any idea?” asked Fred.

“Going down to Manassas Junction, I suppose.  That’s where the rebels are.”

“Do you suppose we shall get into a fight?” asked Ben.

“I don’t know; I hope so.”

“So do I,” returned Ben, faintly; “but I don’t like to be broke of my rest in this way.”

Tom, full of excited anticipations in regard to the events of the day, laughed heartily at this reply, and left the tent.  The regiment was formed in line, but there were two vacancies in the section to which he belonged.  Fred and Ben had answered to their names at roll call.  On some pretence they had asked permission to leave the line for a few moments, and that was the last that had been seen of them.

“Where do you suppose they are?” said Tom to Hapgood.

“I don’t know.  I hain’t got much confidence in Ben’s pluck, and I shouldn’t wonder if he had run away.”

“But that is desertion.”

“That’s just what you may call it; and I’ve seen men shot for it.”

The regiment remained in line several hours before the order came to move.  At daylight, while the men were still standing in the road, four soldiers, attended by a staff officer, conducted the two missing men of Company K into the presence of the regiment.

“These men say they belong to your regiment,” said the officer, saluting the little colonel.

Captain Benson immediately claimed them, and Fred and Ben were ordered into the ranks.

“Cowards—­are you?” said the captain.  “You shall take your places in the ranks, and at the right time we will settle this case.”

“I enlisted without my father’s consent, and you can’t hold me if I don’t choose to stay,” replied Fred Pemberton.

“Next time you must ask your father before you come.  It is too late to repent now.”

“I’m going home.”

“No, you’re not.  Sergeant, if either of those men attempt to leave the ranks again, shoot them!” said the captain.

Fred and Ben took their places in the ranks amid the laughter and jeers of the company.

“Who’s the baby now?” said Bob Dornton.

“You have disgraced the company,” added old Hapgood.  “I didn’t think you would run away before the battle commenced.”

“I shall keep both eyes on you, my boys, and if you skulk again, I’ll obey orders—­by the Lord Harry, I will!” said the sergeant, as he glanced at the lock of his musket.  “Company K isn’t going to be laughed at for your cowardice.”

At six o’clock the order came for the brigade to march.  It now consisted of only three regiments, for the time of one, composed of three months’ men, had expired while at Centreville; and though requested and importuned to remain a few days longer, they basely withdrew, even while they were on the very verge of the battlefield.  This regiment left, and carried with it the scorn and contempt of the loyal and true men, who were as ready to fight the battles of their country on one day as on another.