ted him fully, he would not be much more than a prisoner,
nevertheless.

"Thank you very much, Captain," he said, "but you needn't trouble
yourself about me. Perhaps I'd better go on ahead. One rides faster
alone."

"Don't be afraid that we'll hold you back," said the captain, smiling.
"We're one of the hardest riding detachments in General Pleasanton's
whole cavalry corps, and we won't delay you a second. On the contrary,
we know the road so well that we'll save you wandering about and losing
time."

Harry did not dare to say more. And so Providence, which had been
watching over him so well, had decided now to leave him and watch over
the other fellow. But he had at least one consolation. Pleasanton was
on Lee's flank and their ride did not turn him from the line of his true
objective. Every beat of his horse's hoofs would bring him nearer to
Lee. Invincible youth was invincibly in the saddle again, and he said
confidently to the captain:

"Let's start."

"All right. You keep by my side, Haskell. You appear to be brave and
intelligent and I want to ask you questions."

The tone, though well meant, was patronizing, but Harry did not resent it.

"This troop is made up of Massachusetts men, and I'm from Massachusetts
too," continued the captain. "My name is Lester, and I had just
graduated from Harvard when the war began."

"Good stock up there in Massachusetts," said Harry boldly, "but I've one
objection to you."

"What's that?"

"Everything wonderful in our history was done by you. No chance was left
for anybody else."

"Well, not everything, but almost everything. Good old Massachusetts!
As Webster said, 'There she stands!'"

"It was mostly New York and Pennsylvania that stood at Gettysburg."

"Yes, you did very well there."

"Don't you think, Captain, that a nation or a state is often lucky in its
possession of writers?"

"I don't catch your drift exactly."

"I'll make an illustration. I've often wondered what were the Persian
accounts of Marathon and Thermopylae, of Salamis and Plataea. Now most
of our history has been written by Massachusetts men."

"And you insinuate that they have glorified my state unduly?"

"The expression is a trifle severe. Let's say that they have dwelled
rather long upon the achievements of Massachusetts and not so long upon
those of New York and Pennsylvania."

"Then let New York and Pennsylvania go get great writers. No state can
be truly great wi