me two miles below."

"There, Jack," said Ned Ellis, "I'd give up now. You don't know quite so
much as you thought you did."

"What a queer old town it is," said Frank, generously wishing to draw
attention from Jack's mortification. "It isn't a bit like Boston. It
don't begin to be as smart a place."

"Of course not!" said Jack, more eager than ever now to appear knowing.
"And why should it be? Boston is the capital of Massachusetts; and if
Annapolis was only the capital of this state, it would be smart enough."

"What is the capital of this state?" asked Gray, winking slyly at Frank.

"Baltimore! I thought every body knew that," said Jack, with an air of
importance.

This ludicrous blunder raised a great laugh.

"O Jack! O Jack Winch! where did you go to school?" said Joe Harris, "not
to know that Frederick is the capital of Maryland."

"So it is! I had forgotten," said Jack. "Of course I knew Frederick was
the capital, if I had only thought."

At this the boys laughed louder than ever, and Jack flew into a passion.

"Harris was fooling you," whispered Frank. "Annapolis is the capital.
Gray is taking us now to see the State House."

"Ha, ha, ha!" Winch suddenly burst forth. "Did you think I didn't know?
Annapolis is the capital; and there's the State House."

"Is it possible?" said Gray. "The rebels must have changed it then, for
that was St. John's College when I was here before."

The boys shouted with merriment; all except Jack, who was angry. He had
been as fickle at his studies, when at school, as he had always been at
every thing else; never sticking long to any of them, but forever
beginning something new; until, at last, ignorant of all, he gave up,
declaring that he had knowledge enough to get through the world with, and
that he wasn't going to bother his brain with books any longer. It added
now to his chagrin to think that he had not education enough to prevent
him from appearing ridiculous among his mates, and that the golden
opportunity of acquiring useful information in his youth was lost
forever.

Meanwhile Frank's reflections were very different. Gray's reminiscences
of April had strongly impressed upon his mind the fact that he was now on
the verge of his country's battle-fields; that this was the first soil
that had been wrested from the grasp of treason, and saved for the
Union,--that the ground he stood upon was already historic. And now the
sight of some negroes reminded him that he