Then this girl who haunted his thoughts!  Would that his path had been as straight, his duty as easy, as that of the handsome young Captain.

Presently these thoughts were distracted by the sight of a back strangely familiar.  The back belonged to a, gentleman who was energetically climbing the embankment in front of him, on the top of which Major Sexton, a regular, army officer, sat his horse.  The gentleman was pulling a small boy after him by one hand, and held a newspaper tightly rolled in the other.  Stephen smiled to himself when it came over him that this gentleman was none other than that Mr. William T. Sherman he had met in the street car the day before.  Somehow Stephen was fascinated by the decision and energy of Mr. Sherman’s slightest movements.  He gave Major Saxton a salute, quick and genial.  Then, almost with one motion he unrolled the newspaper, pointed to a paragraph, and handed it to the officer.  Major Saxton was still reading when a drunken ruffian clambered up the bank behind them and attempted to pass through the lines.  The column began to move forward.  Mr. Sherman slid down the bank with his boy into the grove beside Stephen.  Suddenly there was a struggle.  A corporal pitched the drunkard backwards over the bank, and he rolled at Mr. Sherman’s feet.  With a curse, he picked himself up, fumbling in his pocket.  There was a flash, and as the smoke rolled from before his eyes, Stephen saw a man of a German regiment stagger and fall.

It was the signal for a rattle of shots.  Stones and bricks filled the air, and were heard striking steel and flesh in the ranks.  The regiment quivered,—­then halted at the loud command of the officers, and the ranks faced out with level guns, Stephen reached for Mr. Sherman’s boy, but a gentleman had already thrown him and was covering his body.  He contrived to throw down a woman standing beside him before the mini-balls swished over their heads, and the leaves and branches began to fall.  Between the popping of the shots sounded the shrieks of wounded women and children, the groans and curses of men, and the stampeding of hundreds.

“Lie down, Brice!  For God’s sake lie down!” Mr. Sherman cried.

He was about to obey when a young; man, small and agile, ran past him from behind, heedless of the panic.  Stopping at the foot of the bank he dropped on one knee, resting his revolver in the hollow of his left arm.  It, was Jack Brinsmade.  At the same time two of the soldiers above lowered their barrels to cover him.  Then smoke hid the scene.  When it rolled away, Brinsmade lay on the ground.  He staggered to his feet with an oath, and confronted a young man who was hatless, and upon whose forehead was burned a black powder mark.

“Curse you!” he cried, reaching out wildly, “curse you, you d—­d Yankee.  I’ll teach you to fight!”

Maddened, he made a rush at Stephen’s throat.  But Stephen seized his hands and bent them down, and held them firmly while he kicked and struggled.